Compromises
by FullWolfMoonGirl
Summary: When Donna starts having serious problems, Wilfred Mott can think of only one person to call for help. The Doctor. But the Doctor is so very different now. Can he really help Donna? If he can't, what will happen to her?
1. Wilfred Mott

_**I love the new TARDIS team, please don't get me wrong! It's just once in a while it feels good to visit an old friend. So I figured a bit of Eleven and Donna mixed in with hurt/comfort, might be nice. More chapters to come soon!**_

**_*This takes place in present day. It occurs some time in between his adventures with Amy and Rory in the current season._**

**Reviews are appreciated, thanks!  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"It's Donna!" A tired and frazzled looking Shaun Temple looked pleadingly at Wilf.<p>

Wilfred Mott rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he leaned against the door of his little cottage. Both men were in their pajamas. Wilf's face was now etched with worry lines of his own.

Shaun didn't need to explain. Wilf knew. He nodded and quickly grabbed his coat and slipped on some shoes. Before he was finished, Shaun was running back down the hill to the main house and was phoning friends and family, desperate in his search.

Wilf looked around his nice sized cottage. The cottage was built on his granddaughter's property, especially for him. It even had a nice tall tower up the stairs with a powerful telescope for all of his stargazing.

Donna Temple-Noble, his granddaughter, had made it her first priority after winning the lottery. To buy herself and her husband, Shaun, a nice bit of land just outside of town. They'd built a good sized house on it and for Wilf, his cottage up on a big hill all his own.

She'd bought her mother, Sylvia, a place in town. Wilfred thought she did that on purpose. To keep her mother at a distance, but not too far of a distance. Sylvia was a happier woman now that her daughter was married off and had plenty of money, but that didn't keep her from fussing at her daughter every now and again.

"Oh Donna, what should I do..." Wilf stood and moved back toward the door. He could go looking for her in town. The last time this had happened, that was where they'd found her. But Shaun had set up a system. He already alerted the police so they would be on the lookout for her, and was in the process of having their friends and family look about for her as well.

The trouble was, she kept going to a different place each time she had one of these episodes.

Everyone else called it sleep walking. Donna herself joked that there just wasn't enough time in the day to do all the shopping she liked, so she must get some done in her sleep. But Wilfred wasn't fooled. He could see even she was stressed by whatever was happening with her.

She kept disappearing. Not literally vanishing, but walking off in a dazed state and not remembering much about it. She and Shaun and even Sylvia insisted it was just sleep walking, but Wilfred knew better. Sleep walking happened only after someone had fallen asleep. These episodes of Donna's happened any time, sometimes when she was wide awake and in the middle of doing things!

She'd be found wandering, confused, sometimes upset, but then seemingly just fine.

He knew if she were remembering her time with the Doctor she would lose consciousness and pass out, not go wandering off. So he was scared about this.

It had been happening more and more. Something needed to be done. Sylvia wouldn't talk to him about the possibility of it having anything to do with Donna's time with the Doctor. She was insistent that they move on from all of that and not dare mention it again. So he kept his thoughts to himself. But he knew things couldn't keep on like this.

He needed to contact the Doctor. He didn't like it. It wasn't a good idea at all. But he didn't know what else to do. He felt certain that Shaun and his system would locate Donna once again, but then it would just keep happening. The more it happened, the duller the look in Donna's eyes seemed to get. The more confused and unhappy she appeared even as she attempted jokes.

Maybe if the Doctor would just stop by and give her a quick look to make sure she was okay...But that was too risky. He went out to help look for her again this time, deciding it best not to disturb the Doctor unless things became desperate.

Several hours later, it was four o'clock in the morning and they still hadn't found Donna. It was the longest she'd ever gone missing. He hurried back up the hill to his cottage as Shaun headed back out with the car to look for her. Donna's poor husband was a sight! He truly loved his wife and was worried for her. When she was fully conscious, sure she could take care of herself, but while in this state she was very vulnerable. Anything could happen to her out there.

Wilf shuffled over to his room and bed and knelt down. He pulled out an old metal box and went through the pains of unlocking it and moving aside some very cherished memories he had stuffed in the box. Underneath all of that was a raggedy bit of paper with a phone number on it. A phone number he was never meant to have. He didn't know what else he could do.

He had to call the Doctor.


	2. A Phone Call

**Thank you so much for the reviews! It really encouraged me to get this chapter polished up and published quickly.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The TARDIS phone rang as the Doctor prepared to head to Monday to pick up Amy and Rory.<p>

They'd spent the weekend at home. They said they were going to do laundry but when the Doctor informed them he could take them to a cleaners that could have their clothes cleaned within a fraction of a second, they started acting all...Awkward.

Rory shuffled his feet and wouldn't look at the Doctor and Amy kept making noises and looking at him funny.

It took the pair a good half hour to tell him they just weren't comfortable with his suggestion about letting him know by putting up a balloon or anything. That was his warning sign that they were doing things they ought _not_ to in the TARDIS.

One Melody Pond was more than enough for him to handle. He'd quickly dropped them off home, nearly shoving them out of the TARDIS doors.

He stopped and looked over at the phone.

Normally Amy or Rory would be there to screen his calls for him. He much preferred that to having to handle some uncomfortable person or situation. Why did those two have to go and get all those..._Urges_!

Even so, he was a bit excited at the prospect of a quick adventure before heading to Monday. Who was it this time? A queen? The Prime Minister? River? No, too simple a thing for River to just phone him. Or maybe it was Rory, having forgotten something or another. Had he been late for Monday? No, he was sure he wasn't.

He smiled, convincing himself the phone call had to lead him somewhere exciting and fun.

He reached over and plucked the phone up.

"Hello! Leave a message or in this case don't leave a message because I'm not a recording...But I could be! So on second thought, go ahead and leave a message after all!" He greeted the person cheerfully. No sense in _not_ throwing in the possibility of his voice just being a recording in case he ended up on the phone with someone he'd rather not be.

Wilf hesitated. Who was that young, upbeat sounding person? It didn't sound like the Doctor at all. He must have had a friend along. "Hello. Um. May I speak with the Doctor please? Tell him its Wilfred Mott calling." The man spoke his name with dignity and self respect. Wilf was nothing if not proud of the life he had so far lead.

The Doctor stiffened. He felt a ripple of shivers across the back of his neck. Out of all the infinite possibilities of who might have been calling him, Wilfred Mott was at the bottom five percent, at best.

He swallowed hard. He stood straight up. He pulled the phone away from his ear and stared down at it as if the world were dropping out from under his very feet and the only thing keeping him upright was the phone itself.

It took an effort on his part to pull the phone back to his ear. He drew in a shaky breath.

"Wilf? I'm the Doctor." He spoke tersely. "What is it?" He asked, his voice tightening.

That chapter in his life was closed. He knew he couldn't go back. Donna had moved on and forgotten, as well she needed to. He had moved on also. He'd found new friends and new adventures and everyone was moving on with their lives. That was how it was supposed to be.

He hated what he'd had to do to her, but it was a necessary evil. At least he'd made sure she was taken care of. She had enough money to be happy and comfortable, something she always deserved, but never would have gotten on her own. It had been the very least he felt he could do for the woman who was once his best friend in the Universe.

But that was long ago. Those times were over. He never expected to see or hear from her or her family ever again. He'd accepted that and moved on.

This was like a slap in the face. A wake up call he was never supposed to receive.

Why would Wilf be calling him? Their lives were not meant to cross paths again. For Donna's sake, if for nothing else. It was too dangerous.

So that Wilf was contacting him, he knew something had to be very, terribly wrong. All sorts of scenarios ran through his mind. How had Wilf even gotten his number? Was Donna okay? Was Wilf? Obviously something was so horribly wrong that Wilf felt it worth risking Donna's life for. That terrified the Doctor.

He would have leapt through the phone and demanded an immediate answer, were that even possible. Actually, it was possible, but he didn't have the time to utilize the technology it would take to have that happen. It would be quicker just to wait for a response. So why did it feel like Wilfred was taking too long? Why wouldn't he just tell him already? Only a couple of seconds had passed, but those seconds were ticking away lifetimes as far as the Doctor was concerned.

While his emotions were slapping him like violent waves against rocks, his outer demeanor remained calm aside from the way he gripped the phone so excruciatingly tight that it hurt. He didn't care.

"Wilfred?" The Doctor quietly demanded, keeping his emotions in check as best he could, but this only aided in creating a sharp quality to his voice that came across as annoyance.

Wilf didn't think the Doctor sounded like, well, the Doctor. He was confused and worried which kept him hesitating. The Doctor he knew might have been rude, but he would have greeted him warmly. This man sounded as if he wished Wilfred would just go away and never bother him again.

He wavered.

Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe they could handle this on their own. Donna was a strong woman and she said she was fine. She had Shaun and plenty of money for medical doctors' care. But as much as he tried to ignore it, the painful truth was Donna needed help that went beyond mere medical care.

_For her sake._ He reminded himself. His resolve finalized, he knew he had no other choice. "It's...It's Donna."

Both of the Doctor's hearts thundered within his chest. His mind was already jumping to so many conclusions he could barely keep up with even himself.

He waited, holding his breath to hear what was wrong with Donna.

"It's just..." Had Wilf been in the Doctor's presence, and not an older man, the Doctor would have grabbed him and shook him at this point, demanding an answer.

"She's been having these episodes." _Episodes?_"She just stands up and walks off, like it's nothing. You try to talk to her and she doesn't hear or see you. She just keeps walking until somebody stops her. Even then she just stands there looking blank, then pops back to her old self again. We've tried everything. She's been to professionals, even a hynotist. I think she might...Need some other sort of help. The alien kind you've got maybe. She says she's fine, she laughs it all off, but...It's wearing on her, Doctor."

He could hear the fear and worry in Wilfred's voice.

If there were a way to physically crush the Doctor without actually killing him, this would do the trick. When someone he cared about was hurting or afraid, it dug right into the very core of who the Doctor was.

"And it's night here and she's gone off again. We can't find her..."

Clutching the phone with one hand while he pulled at the handbrake with the other, the Doctor was already making his decisions. He couldn't ignore this. He could hear the pleading in Wilf's voice. The pain of a grandfather who wanted nothing more than to protect his only grandchild. The Doctor understood that feeling only too well. Amy and Rory could wait. In fact, it was one of the things they did best. He couldn't see bringing them along. Too many things were already troublesome about the situation as it was.

Normally he wouldn't do this. He would have pretended to be a recording. But he respected Wilf and trusted his judgment. There was just no way the man would have contacted him had there been any other way.

"Okay. I see. Something needs to be done about that then." Not another word did he speak to Wilf before hanging up on him.

Wilf frowned as he put the phone down. This Doctor didn't seem to care at all. Was he really the Doctor at all? Was he going to come? It sounded to him like the Doctor didn't care at all about Donna, or any of them. Wilf felt like he'd just disrupted the Doctor's life. He was ashamed of himself now for bothering the Doctor..

Maybe he had made too big a deal out of all this. Maybe it was a mistake, after all. He twisted his hands together nervously. How were they going to help Donna now?

Silently the Doctor begged Donna to be okay. His only solace when it came to her was knowing she was safe and somewhat happy. But she wasn't happy at all. She was in trouble. And she was lost. The Doctor forced down another wave of paralyzing fear before he could be swept up in it. He quickly set in some coordinates.

"I'm coming, Donna." He jaw tightened. Just let any living being be behind what was happening to Donna. Just dare them! They would regret it beyond all imaginings. "Whatever is happening to you, Donna, you're not alone. I'm coming."


	3. Wilf and the Doctor

**Your reviews truly help me keep writing. Thank you! **

**I _am_ toying with Donna's memories, but no need to be disappointed, because there really is something else that is going on here with Donna, even though it won't seem like it for a while.  
><strong>

**I have the next chapter almost ready and should have it up tomorrow. And it actually has plenty of Donna it in finally so YAY for that!**

* * *

><p>Wilfred was beside himself with worry. Poor Donna was out there somewhere, lost and alone, and the Doctor wasn't himself, whoever he was, and he could do nothing about either of those things.<p>

He sat down anxiously on the edge of his bed. He was just thinking about going back into town when the wonderfully familiar sound of the TARDIS landing outside caught his attention. He hurried outside, taking notice that the box was slightly different and the man who stepped out of it, far from the man he knew.

He took in the man's features. The longer face, the brown suit and bow tie. This boy was a baby! He couldn't possibly be...But how many other men went flying about in a little blue box? Besides, the Doctor himself had said when he regenerates it is like dying and like a new man sauntering off. This had to be him. The new man. It had to be the Doctor.

Wilfred Mott may not have seen a lot of the adventures his granddaughter had, but he'd seen enough in his day to accept this at face value. This was the Doctor. He only hoped this version of the Doctor would be able to help. Clearly, he didn't want to be here. He even looked...Severe.

Truthfully, the Doctor expected more of a reaction from Wilf. But as Wilf ran out and up to the blue box that appeared outside his cottage, he looked the bow tie wearing man up and down and simply asked. "Doctor?"

"Yes, its me. Different, but the same, the same," He rolled one hand over the other. "But different." He actually smiled then as he looked at Wilf.

Wilf gave an uncertain smile back. He would have hugged him had he not been so drastically different. But it wasn't his appearance that was turning Wilfred off from feeling comfortable with him. "Blimey! When you change, you _really_change!" And that was the end of that. Except that Wilf wasn't sure he could trust that this Doctor would care enough about his granddaughter to really be able to help her. But what else could he do?

"Come on, I'll track Donna's location from inside the TARDIS." He was already disappearing inside and Wilf quickly followed.

"I'm sure she can't be far and even if she is we'll find her." He assured the old man. Although he was actually much older than him. Wilf watched the Doctor press a few buttons and turn a knob. Wilf turned around a time or two as he took in the differences.

"This blue box of yours is different too. It went and changed along with you now, didn't it?" He laughed nervously and the Doctor just nodded toward him, not looking up from whatever he was doing.

Then there was a beeping sound. "Ah, there, you see! Knew we'd find her!"

That was something about this new Doctor that Wilf appreciated. And he very much needed something positive to see in this young looking man who stood before him. He seemed hopeful and upbeat. The last time he'd seen the Doctor, in his previous incarnation, the Doctor had been so depressed and upset that it was hard to look at him without his eyes tearing up. But how he was now seemed energetic and hyper, and not depressed. He was glad to see that at least.

"You found her?" Wilf moved over to the screen to peer at whatever the Doctor was watching. It looked like a jumble of symbols and lines to him. He couldn't make it out.

"Yes. She's close by. She's just..." The Doctor's head moved closer to the screen. "Not far." He looked and sounded suddenly concerned. Which very much bothered Wilfred.

The Doctor didn't like this. He knew where she was and he didn't like it at all. Something wasn't right.

He expected her to have dreams and feelings of her time with him, but he hadn't expected this. He knew no matter how hard one blocked someone's memory, no matter what devices one used to wipe a mind, there was no getting around emotions. They stuck somewhere deep inside, even when nothing else did. A person could and would hold the pains, the joys, the fears, the feelings of loss, even if not a single memory of why those feelings existed remained.

Donna must have been experiencing them and maybe experiencing the emotions was bringing up some memories on a level high enough to alert her subconscious to it, but not high enough to bring her to full conscious awareness of these things.

He was absolutely positive that he'd left her in a safe state of mind, with a sturdy enough fail-safe to ensure she would never fully remember him or her time with him. He'd even implanted plenty of false memories for the time she was away with him, so that she wouldn't have lost any moments and been suspicious about them.

He'd given her plenty of lovely memories of traveling the world on her own and meeting interesting people along the way. He was positive that such memories, fake as they were, probably put her mind at ease about the strange dreams and feelings that would creep up on her now and again.

But there was no way she would just start remembering things, even on a subconscious level, unless something or _one_ was manipulating her. How could they get past the fail-safes he'd put into place? Even the Master hadn't gotten beyond causing her memories to start to surface which only helped the fail-safes to kick into motion.

Whatever external forces that were working on Donna now went well beyond that. They were able to tap into her subconscious mind without fully alerting her conscious mind. And there was something else, but he wasn't quite sure about it.

One thing he was positive about. Whomever or whatever was effecting her, was _very _powerful.

This was bad.

He never should have come here. He probably wouldn't have. But she needed him.

"Well let's go get her then?" Wilf watched the Doctor who nodded and quickly the concerned look was replaced with a smile as the man moved about the console and gestured for Wilf to pull down a lever. He obliged.

"She's okay, isn't she, Doctor?" He paused, watching the Doctor watch his console. "Isn't she?"

Much to the distressed man's dismay, the Doctor didn't answer him.


	4. A Forced Journey

**Reviews are loved!**

* * *

><p>Donna stepped inside the large, cold building, not feeling anything. It was as though she were on autopilot. She wasn't even aware enough yet to question where she was or what she was doing.<p>

She'd passed the weathered Adipose sign and couldn't remember how she'd gotten the door to the abandoned building unlocked, but the lock was broken and in she stepped.

Still, she felt nothing. She sometimes got odd feelings about certain places. Like that time she went on that tug boat on the Thames. Someone mentioned something about flooding and she was blasted with an enormous headache. Everything that happened after that had become a blur. She figured she must have fallen asleep. She woke up five hours later at home with her granddad and mother looming over her.

But she noticed that neither of them ever made a fuss of such things so she tended to ignore these strange things too. It was better to keep on and not trouble herself about them, she long ago decided. It would do no good trying to figure out things that didn't need figuring out. Besides, she had much more important things to do! She had a husband and a house to look after now, plus money to spend!

But it was getting harder to ignore. These things that happened once in a while were starting to happen more frequently. She would remember bits and pieces of what happened before it all became pretty much a blur. But most of the time, she wasn't sure at all what happened. She chose to believe it had to be some sort of sleep disorder. She went to specialists. All they could do was give her pills, but those never helped.

She didn't recognize this place at all. She had no idea why she might be here. She was walking on pure instinct now.

Somehow her heart was racing as she moved down a hallway and to the stairwell. She started to climb up, all the while trying to capture a thought. Any thought. It was as though her mind truly was blank, yet her body seemed to know just what it was doing. In her normal state of consciousness, she would have been upset and angry by being here in this strange place in the middle of the night. But she couldn't feel that. Not just yet.

As she walked up more and more stairs though, feelings did begin to come. Feelings she didn't understand, not in the least little bit. Warmth. Love. Excitement. Friendship. Pain. Loneliness. She went through an array of emotions until she settled on sad. She managed to drag herself up one level of conscious awareness from there. The sad feeling was so deep and intense that it was impossible to not notice it on some conscious level.

The more this sleep walking thing happened to her, the more time she had to try to get some sort of control over it and find out what was going on. Maybe that was why she was able to hold onto something more when these sleep walking episodes happened. This time she knew she would hold onto that feeling of deep sadness. She just didn't know why.

The feelings felt as if they belonged to someone else. Buried so deep within her that they were just out of her reach.

She didn't care to be here. It certainly wasn't a place she would have chosen to be. But it was as though she were compelled to be here. She hadn't a choice in the matter. This was where she _had _to be. Up and up she went, solemnly climbing the stairs.

Soon seeing a solid door up above, Donna pushed it open and climbed up. Around her were the tops of surrounding buildings and the cold night air. The air hit her and caused her to shiver, which brought her to further conscious awareness. That hadn't happened very often when these episodes hit, but when it did, she usually was just confused and hurriedly went home.

But so far, all of those times she had found herself just in the middle of roads or nearby shops. She'd never been up on a roof in the middle of the night before! This awakened even more of her senses and feelings.

"This is a roof!" She turned around, taking it all in, feeling somewhat in control of herself for a moment. "I'm on a flipping roof! What am I doing on a roof?"

Confused and frustrated with this sleep walking problem of hers, she started walking around the rooftop, carefully avoiding the edges. Some strange feeling started to grow inside her. She didn't like it. The feeling reminded her of after her father died. It was similar to the feeling she had when she was packing his clothing up for charity.

The feeling of loss.

This wasn't right. What was going on? "How can I be on the roof of some building!" She had vague images of herself entering the building and climbing the stairs. With equal amounts of vagueness she wondered if all the experts she'd gone to were wrong and maybe she _did_ have some kind of tumor after all.

Donna didn't like not being in control of herself. And finding herself on top of an unfamiliar roof was definitely not being in control! She would have been mad about it, but other feelings were too busy confusing her for the anger to surface too strongly just then.

She turned around and noticed there was a set of stairs leading up to a scaffold that was docked onto the side of the building.

_A scaffold._

She approached it with growing dread. Her feet seemed to move of their own accord, as if her will didn't matter at all. She tried to turn away, but her body refused to listen to her.

Something felt so very, _very_ wrong! She clutched a hand to her chest and slowly started to step up toward the scaffold, unsure why she was doing this, or why she was feeling like this _about _doing it.

Why in the world would she be having feelings of loss and sadness over a building scaffold? She'd never been in one in her life!

Donna wasn't afraid of heights, but she'd never bothered to go up into a scaffolding box! Especially not on her own! No way. There was just no reason to it. But her feet moved forward, guiding her up and into the shaky box. It swayed and she grabbed onto the edges.

"Oh, _what _am I doing?" And then suddenly, images were coming. A dark haired man with glasses, then him without glasses. Him gesturing for her to come up to the scaffold with him.

She clung to the side of the metal scaffold as the images caused her to freeze up.

"What's happening..." The images increased. The strange man in the images was in the scaffold and so was she. He was talking about this and that. Things she didn't understand and for the life of her, couldn't get a grasp on.

And then images of a blond woman with glasses and a pen that shot out a bright light.

And suddenly Donna was falling.

She sank to the bottom of the scaffold, rocking back and forth and clutching her head as images of herself plummeting to her death, filled her mind. Her screams, and her catching hold of a bit of the scaffolding rope to keep herself from falling danced through her mind. The rope was part of the scaffolding that had broken off.

The man in the confused images was screaming her name in pure panic. His face was clear in her mind. He leaned over the side of the tilted and half hanging scaffold to peer down at her. There was a great deal of fear in his eyes, calling out to her again, trying to pull her up and save her.

_What the hell?_

"What is this? What's wrong with me? How do I know that man? _Why_ do I know that man?" Her head felt as if someone took a mallet to it. She stayed in the bottom of the scaffold, clutching her head, and unable to get the images from her mind. She knew somehow that she wouldn't be able to hold onto them for long.

"Can't forget...Not again. Please not again!" Tears slid down her cheeks. She didn't understand what was happening to her or why. It hurt so much, but she wasn't sure what_ it _was. What was it she couldn't forget? How could she want to not forget something that she couldn't remember in the first place?

Her head was killing her, but the raw emotions that were pouring through her were having a far more profound effect on her. What did it all mean? The anguished pain of loss was overwhelming. As if she, herself, had somehow died.

Overwhelmed by the intensity of the pain, she cried out.

Why couldn't she move? She could only remain crouched and clinging to the bottom of this thing and hoping that it didn't do what the images showed her like causing it to tip over and her to fall out.

She couldn't die in this thing! She didn't even want to be here! She willed her hand to reach for her mobile. It ignored her. She tried to scold her feet into getting up and climbing back to the safety of the roof, but they refused to obey.

Donna Temple-Noble was terrified, a thing which didn't happen very often. Nothing made sense to her. She no longer even cared if it made sense, she just wanted to go home. "_Please_!"

She couldn't control her own body. Her own mind. Nothing. Feeling completely helpless, she did the only thing left that she _could_ do.

She screamed.


	5. Finding Donna

**I really hope you guys know how much you help keep me writing! Some days/weeks/months I have a particular rough time, and reading over reviews helps remind me people are waiting and helps keep me thinking and moving forward with my stories.**

**So yay, yes, reviews are treasured!**

* * *

><p>"Donna's here?" Wilfred frowned as he peered around at the empty, abandoned building the Doctor landed them within.<p>

"She's on the roof." The Doctor replied. He sonicked a door and gestured for Wilf to follow him.

He could easily have navigated the TARDIS to land on the roof, but that would risk Donna seeing it and a full on view of the TARDIS would almost certainly cause the memories to surface. He could have cloaked it, but he didn't like doing that too often. He parked it a couple of floors lower and in a dark, empty room. But he used his sonic to switch the lights on and off which made things slightly easier for them.

Wilf trailed after him, looking about, confused. He didn't understand why Donna would be here. The Doctor had to know why, surely, but he wasn't saying. Had he been his former self, Wilf would have trusted the Doctor implicitly, but this version of the Doctor still left him feeling cold and far too unsure about him. "Are you sure she's here? Why would she be here, Doctor?" He asked again.

The Doctor lead him through a door and over to a set of lifts. He used the sonic to open them and waited for Wilf to join him inside before again using his sonic to activate the lift. Only then did he turn to Donna's grandfather and give him any sort of answer. Unfortunately, it wasn't as comfortable an answer as Wilf would have liked.

"She _is_ here, Wilf. She's here because she didn't have a choice not to be." That was all the explanation Wilf was going to get.

When the lift stopped the Doctor lead Wilf up another set of stairs and onto the roof. He looked around, but the roof top was bare of any other people. "Doctor, where is she?" Wilf's expressive eyes looked close to tears. The old man could only handle so much.

To Wilf, it seemed the Doctor looked at him like someone watching a sports' match that they were bored with. Wilf hated how the Doctor was making him feel, more so when he thought that this was the man who was supposed to help him help Donna.

He couldn't know that just then the Doctor was busy.

The Doctor was looking at Wilf and noting that the man was in a great deal of distress, but his primary attention was dedicated to locating Donna. He was using his senses. He heard a very faint noise. Like metal lightly rattling in a breeze. He heard breathing and the sounds of soft whimpers coming from their left. He saw a smudge mark on the ground made by a woman's shoe. Donna's shoe size. She was most definitely here and most definitely in some sort of trouble.

He was still staring at Wilf and about to head left when a scream came from that very direction.

The Doctor ran.

Wilfred was slightly slower to react, but ran after him. That was his granddaughter screaming! He was grateful that the Doctor was there because he had younger legs and got to the steps leading up to the scaffold in the blink of an eye. He was up and leaning over it to find the source of the screams before Wilf's foot touched the bottom step.

The Doctor saw the familiar ginger colored head bent down and cowering inside the metal box. She was trembling and clutching at the sides of it as she screamed. He didn't try to touch her. Not yet. He needed to help her first.

He reached back and down to help Wilf who was struggling to climb up with him.

"She needs you now." The Doctor informed an anxious Wilf.

Wide eyed, the gray haired man nodded and started to reach down into the scaffolding box, but the Doctor shook his head and gestured for Wilf to climb over. He held out an arm and helped the man climb over which was no small feat for Wilf. But he grasped onto the edge and climbed over, one foot and the other, to his granddaughter.

Donna felt the scaffolding tilting and shaking with the weight of someone else, but her head was killing her and she was in too much of a blind panic to care.

"Help me! _Help_ me!"

Suddenly, she felt warm arms around her, hugging her tightly. Warm, familiar arms. She opened her eyes in spite of the pain spasaming inside her head. "Gramps?" She blinked, her tear-filled eyes had never seen a more welcomed sight. She hugged him back fiercely. "Granddad, why can't I make it stop? It hurts too much! Why won't it let me move?" She sobbed.

He just hugged, not knowing how else to help her.

She was startled to feel a third hand. It was gently caressing her hair. For some reason as soon as it touched her head, the pain started to subside enough for her to focus somewhat better. Not only that, the invisible force that seemed to be keeping her here, was now missing. It vanished, just like that. It was as though that third hand alone had the power to make it retreat.

"Donna? Donna, what's wrong?" Wilf was teary eyed himself, worried for her.

After a few moments she calmed and wiped her eyes, pulling away from her grandfather. "I'm fine, stop fussing! Just a bit of sleep walking." In truth, she didn't feel the least little bit near fine, but she couldn't stand that upset look on his face. She needed him to be okay and the only way to make that happen was to pretend that she was. He calmed down when she forced a smile.

She looked up at the third person.

A man. An awkward looking fellow in tweed and wearing a bow tie. Clearly he lacked any sense of fashion. Otherwise he would have known that tweed and bow ties were completely fashion senseless! But she wouldn't be rude and say so, unless he gave her reason to. Married life had somewhat calmed her abrasive manners, though not entirely.

He was leaning in and peering over at her, his hand on her head. But what was most startling about him, was his eyes. They looked ancient and deep and they were full of things she couldn't begin to grasp. It frightened her.

"How's your head, Donna?" The stranger asked, a wistful smile on his face. "Having a hard time of things, I see. Well, lets get you out of here." He reached down to help her up. Wilf slowly stood and climbed out as well, offering her a hand. She let them help pull her up and out, back down the stairs and onto the roof.

Donna couldn't find an explanation for something else either. The presence of the strange young man was soothing and calming to her. She had no idea why, absolutely none, but she felt strangely comforted by him. It wasn't like she was attracted to him. She had Shaun for that. Not this weird looking kid! But there was definitely something about him she couldn't put her finger on.

Her vision was a bit blurry and she wasn't quite well yet. Her head ached enough to make her want to close her eyes and her head was full of emotions she couldn't place.

She let her grandfather and this stranger help her, each taking an arm to guide her back down through the building. She heard a strange buzzing noise and lights came on. When she looked around, she couldn't see how they managed to get the lights on when the switches were so far away, but she didn't question it. Nor did she particularly care to question why the lift was suddenly working. It didn't really occur to her to be suspicious. After all, her grandfather was here.

She stepped in with them, glad not to have to take the stairs.

Wilf was confused as to why his granddaughter was at the top of a closed down office building, much less hunkered down, sobbing inside of a window washer's scaffold. But he realized now was not the time for questions.

He was relieved that she was okay, though she looked like she was having another of those headaches she sometimes got. He exchanged looks with the Doctor as they escorted her down and out of the building.

The Doctor knew something. Wilf didn't know what he was keeping from him, but he was sure of it. But he tried to trust him. Maybe he had a good reason for keeping things secret. It still left Wilf with a bad feeling.

The trio was quiet as they met the cool night's air and Donna shivered. She felt a heavy coat being placed around her shoulders. Where had that come from? She didn't worry herself about it. She was tired and drained and her head was throbbing and her emotions were a mess. She just wanted to be home. But there was one question she couldn't help give voice to.

She turned her gaze to the Doctor's pensive face.

"Who are you?"

Donna's question held a lot of potency. More than she could recognize. She was searching for something more than a name. Even Wilf could feel it. He looked uneasily between the Doctor and Donna.

But The Doctor gave her the softest of smiles. "I'm Williams. Williams Pond." He easily lied, adopting the last names of his companions for a first and last name for himself. It was easier to go with names like John Smith, but he didn't always like doing things the easy way.

"I'm an old...New friend of your granddad's." He said, recalling at the last, late moment that he looked far too young to be an 'old' friend of someone Wilf's age. Even though he had centuries on Wilfred Mott!

Donna looked confused. "Oh? How did you know to find me here?"

Both men looked uncomfortable. Not at the question itself, but to whom she directed it. _The Doctor._ How could she have known he was the one to find her?

"Oh, we just looked about and got lucky enough to be close by when we heard your screams, didn't we, Wilf?" The Doctor lied again. Donna nodded, but there was suspicion in her eyes even when Wilf immediately agreed with this Williams Pond fellow.

The Doctor handed her a handkerchief to wipe her tears, his hand lingering a bit on hers, but not long enough to raise any suspicions._ Donna_. Oh, how he'd missed her! She was a wonderful friend, even if she no longer knew it.

"Thanks." She wiped her face, the pain in her head still etching telltale lines across her forehead. "My head...It hurts."

The Doctor's fingers were suddenly trailing across her forehead. His touch once more somehow soothing the deep pain within her mind. It was as if he were a magician and his very touch could heal her!

She didn't question this either even though she meant to. She was in too much pain to just then. She allowed his fingers to dance across her head, easing back the pain, and somehow, thoughts and images eased back along with it. She couldn't, for the life of her, remember why it was she was on that roof in the middle of the night like this in the first place!

The pain eased and she was able to focus. And that was when she swatted the Doctor's hand away. "Oi! I don't know you, Mr. River or whoever, so don't go touching me!"

The Doctor looked stricken at being called 'Mr. River'. He was positive River Song would have had the biggest laugh at that. That woman usually enjoyed his discomfort. He was silently thankful she wasn't here to witness it this time!

"Pond." He quickly corrected. "Williams _Pond_. Not River, it has absolutely nothing to do with River because a River and a Pond are two _completely_ separate entities...Except when they're not. But that almost never happens! And in this case they are. Absolutely and completely. Not the same thing at all really."

He found both Wilf and Donna staring at him. He cleared his throat and gave them one of his far too bright smiles.

This man was insane. That was Donna's full conclusion. He was completely mad!

"Why are we standing about out here anyway? Its cold, and I'm hungry and tired. I wanna go home." Donna broke the awkwardness and nobody was more grateful to her for that than the Doctor.

"Right." The Doctor nodded his agreement. "Lets get you home then." He reached out to take her arm, but stopped short of actually doing so.

He hid his hand which currently trembled with psychic energy.

He'd used his hand to check on his fail-safes and to make sure certain memories were safely tucked away. He'd also telepathically hedged back the pain that had been hurting her so badly. He was used to using two hands for such efforts, but he hadn't wanted to alarm her.

He has his suspicions, but he wasn't sure why this was happening to her. The memories were fully in tact in their hiding place, perfectly out of range of her conscious memories and incapable of causing her such harm on their own.

There was something he was missing. He was sure of it.

"Wilf, you take your granddaughter home and I'll..." Wilf looked at the Doctor with an expression Donna couldn't quite read. The Doctor continued with the slightest of nods. "I'll come along shortly to check in on you, Donna. Make sure you're okay. Then I'll be on my way."

"Oh, I'll be alright." Donna stepped further away from the Doctor and closer to Wilf. "Just a bit of a headache and these crazy sleep walking habits of mine. I'll be round to see another doctor about them soon." She wondered why this strange young man had any interest at all in her well being.

"The poor dear has been to doctors of all sorts and none have been able to help at all." The way Wilf and the Doctor exchanged a meaningful look, confused Donna all the more.

The Doctor nodded. Regular doctors wasn't what Donna needed. She needed _her_ Doctor. He noticed her rubbing the side of her temple again.

"Would you mind if I tried an unusual technique I learned? A bit holistic in nature." He asked her. She stopped rubbing her temple. What about this man made her feel so safe and comfortable? Ironically, the feeling caused her to be suspicious of him.

"I'll try anything." She told him as Wilf pulled out a mobile phone and called for a taxi. They couldn't very well take Donna in the TARDIS.

"Lets get you home first, then we'll give it a go." The Doctor stopped outside the building. He wanted her safely at home before anything else happened.

"You two go on, I'll meet you there. I've got...My own transportation." With that, he tipped an imaginary hat and walked around a corner to break into the back of the building and go up to his awaiting and hidden TARDIS. If she saw it, she would remember. _Everything._ And then she would have to pass out and forget again. Or die. And he could never let that happen.

As he left, his mind raced. As much as he would have liked to believe this was an isolated incident and that Donna was safe and sound, he knew there was more to it than that. He had to get to the bottom of whatever was happening to her. He just hoped he could before something truly terrible happened.


	6. Unaware

**I'm glad you all are loving this story so much! I love it too! I have the next chapter drafted and generally completed, I just need to do some editing on it before I put it up.**

**Reviews are loved as always. Thank you, you guys! :)**

* * *

><p>Not long after the Doctor disappeared around the side of the Adipose building, the taxi arrived for Wilf and Donna.<p>

Wilf had also taken the time to call Shaun and let him know Donna was safe and sound. Shaun, in turn, called Sylvia and everyone else to let them know all was well. He was very relieved, to say the least! He hurried home to be there to greet her when she arrived.

In the taxi on the way back home, Donna turned to Wilf. "Gramps, who is that man anyway?"

"Well, you heard him! He's Williams Pond. He's a friend. A good friend. A best friend. He's a best sort of man. You can trust him, darling." He said this with the same sort of affinity he used when speaking of her, her mother, or an old war buddy long ago lost. It didn't make sense to Donna.

"But granddad, he's just a kid! What could you two possibly have in common?" She shot him a look.

He laughed anxiously. "You'd be surprised, love." Again, he got a look and felt the need to explain a bit more. "We met a long while back. He and I share a love of the stars." He told her as plainly as he could. He hadn't had to lie either. That much was true. Very much so! In more ways than his granddaughter could ever know.

She gave a knowing half-smile at this. "You and your stars." She didn't say it the same way her mother did. Sylvia always said it as if it were ridiculous, an absurd fixation that wasn't the least bit important. But Donna said it in an affectionate and caring way. She understood. There was something fascinating about the sky. There was enormous mystery and wonder out there and even Donna could appreciate that.

"Me and my stars." He agreed, patting her hand as the taxi rolled up to the house. "He'll fix you up nice and make everything okay, that friend of mine. He's really smart and amazing, Donna. You go on in and I'll send the Doc-My friend in." He told her.

This earned him a whole new sort of look. She caught his little slip there, and although she wasn't sure what it meant, it niggled at her mind. But she didn't say another word as she went inside, leaving the door open for the Doctor, or as she knew him, Willams Pond.

Shaun was out the door and greeting her with a quick kiss before she could fully stand up out of the taxi. He helped her inside, but Wilfred pulled him aside after Donna went in. "Shaun, come up to the cottage with me and we'll have a chat. I've got a doctor who might be able to help Donna."

Shaun looked tired and like he wanted to go in and be with Donna, but Wilfred felt the Doctor needed one less distraction while he was here, and so he decided to distract Shaun. Shaun was too polite to be rude to Donna's grandfather so he agreed and up the hill they went.

Donna sank onto a plush blue sofa and stared blankly at the floor, thinking. This entire night had been a blur. She remembered being on the roof and recalled vague ideas about feelings and images, but she couldn't grasp them long enough to remember exactly what they were.

Though she'd never say so, she was really upset about all of this. What was wrong with her? She didn't understand. Maybe she never would. She wasn't very bright. At least, she didn't think so. She knew there were plenty of things she didn't and would never understand.

But her own head? It frightened her immensely to think she might be losing her mind.

Whoever this Williams Pond guy was, she hoped he could help her. Her grandfather certainly seemed to have a lot of confidence in that kid. She didn't think he could do much, but she couldn't go on like this. Something had to happen.

"Donna?" The unfamiliar voice startled her. She jerked her head up and there he was.

The man in the bow tie. He was standing just inside the doorway entrance. He closed it behind himself and approached her.

"I'm going to try a little something." He knelt down in front of her.

She looked at him warily. "It won't hurt, will it?" Her voice sounded so soft and lost. It wasn't like the Donna he knew. But then she followed it with a sharper look. "If you hurt me or let your hands wander bow-tie boy, I'll hit you so hard, your grandchildren will feel it!"

He gave her a lopsided grin. That was more like it. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you. No, I promise it won't hurt you, Donna." He reached up and placed a hand on each side of her head. She immediately felt herself growing sleepy.

As she started to slouch, he leaned forward, pressing her safely back against the sofa cushions so she wouldn't fall over. Then he delved into her mind.

He reached in to seek out the memory block. There it was. A gaping wound in her mind hidden behind the power of a Time Lord.

He pressed his mind deeper into hers, searchingly.

Everything was in place. He did notice some minor inflammation in the temporal lobes. Very likely the slight swelling was caused by the hint of memories that had tried to escape into her conscious mind. He soothed back the memories locked deep within her mind to ease some of the pressure and swelling they had caused. But what had caused them to do that in the first place?

He searched and found what he was sure was the answer. Her frontal lobes were also slightly inflamed and laced with an unfamiliar presence. The more he tried to reach it and discover what it was, the more it seemed to evade him. He stared heavily at her as he gazed into her thoughts, shuffling through them as gently as possible.

Whatever was effecting her frontal lobes, meant it could easily control her movements. He worked at separating the trace of foreign presence within her mind and release her from whatever it was. It didn't seem to be a living presence, but he had never seen anything like it before. It bothered him a great deal.

He mentally attempted to comb it out of her mind. He observed that whatever it was, it was dissolving as he separated it from her.

He watched it completely vanish and the swelling started to go down. Relieved at that, he didn't stop to question exactly what it had been. It was gone and Donna was safe. That was all he needed to know.

After he finished re-checking his fail-safes and the inflammation to make sure it was being relieved, he gave her head's blood vessels a psychic massage to even out the blood flow and lessen the pressure of the headaches that the memory suppression was causing.

She shivered in her unconscious state at what he was doing.

And then...

He couldn't help himself. He took a peek.

Up to this point he'd been actively avoiding acknowledging her thoughts as he moved through them.

But now he allowed himself a peek into her thoughts, her feelings, her life. And he immediately regretted having done so. Not by her life. Because Donna Noble always did things big. Winning the lottery and having a huge near-mansion built, hiring all sorts of help and going on lavish vacations. He saw she had bought her mother a place a bit away and made a cottage for her grandfather. She spent outrageous amounts of time and money shopping. All of that was perfectly Donna.

But it was the other thoughts and feelings and notions inside her that disturbed him. That she awoke in the night, afraid to tell anyone of her nightmares, bothered him. That she was almost obsessive about planning far off vacations while trying to fill an endless void within herself that she couldn't understand, upset him. She thought so very little of herself that he ached because of it.

He understood it, even if she didn't. She felt alone even with her loving family and husband nearby. She did love Shaun, that much was clear, but just how deeply in love with him she was, was another matter. It was her settling, basically. And he didn't like that. It hurt him to see how much pain she was in over the confusion of her 'sleep walking' episodes. He always knew a bit of her would remember him in some form or another, but he never thought it would be as profound as all this.

Her experiences with him, even though forgotten, infiltrated nearly every aspect of her life. Where they didn't affect her by existing, they affected her by not existing. They made her forget her own potential. Her own wonderful nature and how amazing she was. He couldn't do anything about it. And that, perhaps, was the thing that got to him most of all.

He finished and removed his hands from her head. Gently, he tossed a blanket over her. He watched her.

She was sleeping soundly now. She wouldn't remember much of this night.

He remembered that night at Adipose. A night he'd felt oh so very alone as he investigated the company. The night Donna Noble came back into his life. For him, things had gone from cold, distant, and quiet, to loud, warm, and cozy. He hadn't had to feel alone anymore.

They'd gone on many exciting adventures together. He would always cherish those times with her. But she had to get on with her life here. And he had to get back to fetching Amy and Rory.

He leaned down to press a tender kiss to Donna's forehead. "Sleep well, Donna Temple-Noble. You were brilliant." He combed his fingers through her hair one last time. His eyes were full of sorrow.

"You'd laugh at me. If you were you again." A crooked smile slipped across his face, his eyes filling. "Oh, you'd laugh at how I am now. Still the daft old space man. Only now in a cool bow tie." He plucked at his bow tie. "You'd probably be even worse about the bow tie than Amy is." He laughed softly at that thought, fighting back the tears now.

"Take care, my friend. My very best friend. And you were, you know."

He headed for the door. He cast one last look over his shoulder at the sleeping red-head. She was so unassuming looking, but she had saved the world! And changed it for the better.

She'd saved _him_. With that final thought, he turned back to the door and stepped out, closing it quietly behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>Not to worry, this isn't the end of their story or mine.<strong>


	7. A Mistake

**Thank you very much for the reviews! :) I'm happy my story is so touching!  
><strong>

**Please review. **

* * *

><p>The Doctor climbed the hill and knocked on Wilf's door. The door flew open so quickly he had to duck back to avoid being smacked with it. He blinked at the man who exited and gave him a kind smile. "Hello." He greeted Shaun Temple.<p>

Shaun didn't know what to think. Wilf had gone on, very insistently, about this man. He said he was a genius and had a 'special' way he went about things. Wilf told him he knew his friend Williams Pond could solve Donna's problem. He had seemed so confident, Shaun didn't have the heart to suggest that maybe Donna needed an actual professional. He knew his wife was tired of all of the professionals, but turning to alternative methods of finding answers didn't sit well with him. Since this Pond man hadn't charged them for the home visit and was a friend of Wilf's, he kept his doubts to himself.

He was pretty sure it wouldn't hurt her, but he didn't care for it. Still, he reached out and shook the Doctor's hand. "Shaun Temple. Thanks for your time." He didn't even ask if he'd been able to help Donna at all. It was a definite brush off.

"It was my pleasure." The Doctor greeted him and smiled as Shaun headed back down the hill. He hoped he could get Donna to agree to some sleep.

The Doctor turned back as Wilf stepped out.

"Did you do it? Is she okay now?" Wilf's wide, hopeful eyes greeted him.

The Doctor kept his smile in place. "She's okay now." He agreed with a nod, deciding not to go into details of what he'd found inside her mind. No need in confusing or potentially upsetting his old friend. "Donna will be...Donna." He patted Wilf's shoulder reassuringly.

"Oh!" Wilf's body seemed to relax before his very eyes as he smiled back. "Thank you, Doctor! Thank you so much! Donna, she needs you, you see!"

Before Wilf could launch into trying to convince him to somehow bring Donna's memories back, the Doctor thought it best to be on his way as quickly as possible.

"Happy to help, Wilfred. Take care now." He turned to leave, but Wilf stepped over to stop him.

"Wait. You're just going to leave now? But what if she needs you again, Doctor?"

"Wilf, you should be careful using my name here." He reminded him.

"Oh, you're right. I just got a bit excited. I've been watching the sky for you, and thinking about you like I promised. Every night! I thought Donna and Shaun were going to put a lock on the outside of my door last winter when I refused to come in without star gazing." He caused the Time Lord's smile to grow.

"Thank you." Was all the Doctor replied.

"You've been traveling around in that box of yours." Wilf looked up at the sky, then back at the Doctor. "Have you been..." He didn't quite know how to ask the wonderful alien man who had saved his granddaughter and his world time and again, if he was okay.

The Doctor's quiet smile grew ever so slightly more. "You worry too much, Wilfred Mott." With that, he turned and headed back down where he had, had to cloak the TARDIS at the side of Donna's home. He didn't look back.

Wilfred waved anyway. He was grateful. Donna would be okay. It was a bitter sweet meeting. He wished the Doctor would stay and take Donna on more trips, but he knew that couldn't happen.

Wilf was sad, but relieved that not only was Donna okay now, but the Doctor _had_, in fact, come when he'd called him. A worry over the past years since he'd last seen him, had been that if something really were to come up that he might need the Doctor for, the Doctor would not answer. He was relieved, surprised, delighted, and happy to see the Doctor still cared. No matter how much that man changed, he was still wonderful as far as Wilf was concerned.

Wilf hadn't had much time to ask questions of the Doctor. Mainly because the Doctor didn't seem to want to answer any. He wondered where the blue box was and why he didn't hear when it left. He turned and went back into his cottage. Finally, he could get a solid bit of sleep knowing his family was safe thanks once again to the Doctor.

Back on the TARDIS, a reflective Doctor slowly moved the console controls into motion.

The Doctor realized he'd been so intent on not allowing Wilf to ask him too many questions and to leave as quickly as possible that he had failed to ask an important question himself.

Just where had Wilfred Mott gotten his personal, private, newly re-designed interior TARDIS' telephone number? It hadn't even existed until after he crashed landed in Amelia Pond's backyard.

He frowned as he pondered on that one.

He barely delighted in the feel of the TARDIS's slight rocking as she took him through the vortex, a thing that normally had him grinning from ear to ear. Especially since he knew he was about to pick up two of his favorite people. But then, those two people didn't know Donna Noble.

Or, Donna Temple-Noble for that matter. They didn't know she'd saved the world. They didn't know she was the only companion he'd ever had who got away with slapping him so frequently. They didn't know how much fun they'd had, the laughter and the long talks. They couldn't ever understand the fun and joy he had gotten from being with her. Her feisty nature that had her making giant alien creatures back down. Whether faced with UNIT and their brunt ways, a ship full of Sontarans, or the blade of a knife, Donna was always brave. Braver than many.

Now he scolded himself, he was being too nostalgic and not giving others he cared about credit. Many friends he'd traveled with were just as brave. He'd loved and lost many friends over the centuries. It was just that he didn't often have to face them again after leaving them behind. It brought up memories that were painful and hard to cope with.

Amy was still quite a companion. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind either. To the point it got her into trouble sometimes. Plus she was also a ginger._ Lucky_! He trusted her greatly and was happy she was around, even if he was slowly destroying her life. He shook his head and shoved that thought aside.

And there was Rory. Rory was a soothing force in the TARDIS. He reminded him daily of the vulnerability and the astounding amazingness that is Human Being. Rory was so quiet and unassuming, only a handful knew he'd guarded over his love for nearly two thousand years and still manage to retain his heart felt self. He didn't lose himself in all that time. He clung to his love to help him hold onto his humanity.

The Doctor smiled as he thought of his friends and started the TARDIS engines up. He still felt he was missing something, but all seemed well enough.

He focused on Amy and Rory because focusing on the past did not help now. Focusing on Donna was nothing more than guilt. She was safe and generally happy and those episodes she had would be gone now that he helped ease her mind, literally. She would be fine. She had her life, he had his. He reaffirmed these thoughts to himself before focusing fully on the present.

He thought excitedly about where he should take Amy and Rory on their next adventure.

_Back at Donna's home..._

_Donna Temple-Noble awoke in a sweat, panting as she sat bolt upright on the sofa. She started to scream. _


	8. Tension Builds

**Love the reviews! Thanks! :) Interesting idea, SPACER8000, I guess we shall have to wait and see!  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Well, Amy, I think...Isn't there some place you'd like to go?" The Doctor looked bright eyed from one companion to the other.<p>

"But don't you think he would look so cute with one, just right there?" Amy asked, pinching Rory's upper arm. Rory winced and rubbed his arm, but didn't say anything. He looked at the Doctor worriedly.

The Doctor scratched his forehead. "You know, I always say if you have a problem of this magnitude to solve, you should..." He walked over to the TARDIS console and started pulling on levers. "Leave it completely alone and definitely find a different problem to solve."

"When do you _ever_ say that?" Amy asked sharply.

"Right now! I'm always going to say it right now and from now on whenever you ask me if Rory should get a tattoo. That is exactly the right response to that question." He nodded and ducked under the console.

"That's not an answer!" Amy challenged.

"Exactly!" The Doctor called out.

Rory just looked relieved.

Amy folded her arms and frowned. "I was only asking. I do think you'd look cute with one." But she let it drop because she could see Rory wasn't entirely happy with the idea. She lightly kissed him as a loud knocking sound started up.

"Doctor, what's that?" Amy asked as she pulled back from Rory.

"It sounded like the door..." Rory pointed out the obvious. They were still parked just outside of their flat, waiting for the Doctor to take them on their next adventure.

The Doctor popped back up and looked over at the door. "Why don't you answer that?"

"Who, me or him?"

"Anyone not named the Doctor will do." The Doctor replied, ducking behind the other side of the console.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Rory, go answer the door?"

The knocking became more insistent.

"But why me?" Rory asked.

"Because you're still the newest." She reminded him.

"Right." He stepped over to the door, wondering if the Doctor knew just how ridiculous it was to hide from a knocking door! He pulled the door open and an elderly woman reached in and grabbed his arm, pulling him out.

Amy ran over to peer out and see what was going on. "What-"

She, too, vanished.

The Doctor couldn't wait around while his friends disappeared on him. So he made his way over and glanced timidly out the door.

A group of elderly people were surrounding Amy and Rory. A couple of the woman were grinning at Rory and one was placing her hands in...Awkward places. Rory was flushed and jumped at these invading hands. Amy was eyeing an older man who kept looking at her legs.

Fearful of what she might do to the old man, the Doctor stepped out.

"Have I missed a party invitation or something?" He asked, looking at each of them.

"You're the Doctor."

"Yes, but who are all you?"

"I'm Margaret! That's Millie, Ralph, Joseph, Catherine, and Theresa. It's nice to meet you." She batted her eyelashes at him.

He adjusted his bow tie and cleared his throat.

"Hello Margaret, is there any particular reason why you were looking for me?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, there was! Some friends of ours near Cardiff sent out word they were looking for a man called the Doctor who hangs out in an old police box. They're friends of a man called Wilfred."

The Doctor paused at the name.

"Ralph here was just lucky enough to spot this police box of yours and we thought we'd see if you were here. The word is, that Wilfred fellow is looking for you and says you can help his granddaughter. I don't know about all of that, but, if you'd like to come eat lunch with us, you're more than welcome?" She offered, trying to flirt even though now the Doctor was far too distracted to be awkward about that.

"Thank you, I'd love to, but I've got another place I have to be, but my friends here." He took Amy by one hand and Rory by the other and pulled them over to the group of seniors. "Would be more than happy to."

"We would what?" Amy turned to glare at the Doctor.

"Yeah, we would what?" Rory added, not looking terribly thrilled as Margaret grinned at him.

"You two would be happy to join them for lunch!"

"But, we're supposed to go with you." Amy reminded him as he let go of their hands.

"Oh, you can go with me any time. In fact, you go have lunch with them, and I'll go...See about something else, and then we can go see about a third thing together!" He pointed at her as he started to back away. "Later!"

"But Doctor-" Amy began to protest.

"You won't miss me! I'll be back before you know it!" He turned and ran into the TARDIS, closing the door behind him. He couldn't let them be in on whatever was going on with Donna. This was something he felt he needed to do alone even though he was positive both Amy and Rory would disagree.

He couldn't worry about that now. He had other things on his mind. Namely, Donna.

This was the second time in a very short amount of time, that Wilfred Mott had reached out to him because of something that was going on with her. It was as he had originally suspected. Something else was most definitely going on with her. He knew he'd missed something. He only wished he hadn't been right.

He quickly set the TARDIS on the right path to Donna's house, his mind going over every single detail of their last encounter in the hopes of figuring out just what was happening to her, and why.

The Doctor moved with lightening speed. This was happening too much, too soon. That Donna was having another reaction so soon told him this was urgent. Whatever was going on was something he couldn't put off dealing with any longer.

When the TARDIS landed, the Doctor ran out without waiting a single moment. He headed straight for Donna's home and burst in without knocking.

He looked around the living room. He saw Wilf, standing right by him, startled at his sudden appearance. Wilf had been pacing back and forth across the living room. Wilf was looking for all the world like he was about to burst into tears. The elderly man was clearly terrified.

The Doctor should have answered his phone. He'd been too busy with Amy and Rory and too confident in the fact that he'd resolved whatever was going on with Donna. He'd been dead wrong.

The Doctor noticed Shaun standing by the sofa, having just risen at the commotion. His hands were together, fidgeting nervously as he looked from Wilf to this new stranger. He glimpsed Sylvia in the kitchen behind them. She was on the phone speaking in hushed tones and not paying a bit of attention to any of them.

The one thing he didn't see, was Donna.

With as much calm as he could muster, the Doctor asked the only question that mattered to him just now.

"Where is she?"

Wilf and Shaun exchanged a look that made the Doctor's anxiety rise to new levels.

"_Where_?" His voice rose, causing Sylvia to flinch and glare out from the kitchen at the man she didn't recognize. Apparently her hostilities toward the Doctor were instinctive.

Wilf knew the former version of the Doctor was often hollering, though not nearly as much as his grandchild, of course. But this newer version was soft spoken from what he'd seen. So having him raise his voice in the least little bit was somehow more intimidating since it was so unexpected from him.

"She's...She's not here. She's gone missing again, only it's been since yesterday! She disappeared yesterday morning. We can't get her on her mobile. We think she went out shopping, but then something happened, like another of them episodes. We called all the open shops, and a few that aren't open and a couple of them said they saw her yesterday around lunch time, but not since. Something's wrong. Please, you've got to help her!"

"How can he know where Donna is when we don't?" Shaun didn't sound as accusing as the Doctor would have expected from his best friend's husband. He thought a man whose wife went missing and a strange man appeared, would be quick to blame him. He'd thought wrong once again.

Shaun walked over to the Doctor, then looked from him to Wilf and back. "If you know how to find her, please help?" He sounded almost as heart breaking as Wilfred did when he pleaded with the Doctor for help. "If Wilf trusts you, then I trust you, but please help us find Donna?" At this point, much to the Doctor's horror, Shaun actually did break down. He started to shake and cry.

"She doesn't _do_ this! She...Doesn't just...Go off on her own with no word!" Shaun was really upset and that reassured the Doctor at least that this man did, indeed, love Donna. He liked that. He'd needed to know that. He had always been a little worried about that.

The Doctor placed a calming hand on Shaun's shoulder and looked right into his watery eyes. "Can you tell me, Shaun, has she said anything odd or unusual lately? Or acted at all out of sorts?"

Shaun slowly regained control. He sniffled and thought a moment. Then he nodded. "Yes, yes, she has. I mean, she's Donna. But...She's been real quiet lately. Kind of off. Like...Like the day before yesterday when we were out for tea in Leadworth," The Doctor's breath caught in his throat. "She just kept staring off and didn't seem right. Maybe she's ill? What if she's gone walking again?" He asked. "She stares off and gets up and starts walking like she's having some kind of seizure or sleep walking episode. It happens sometimes!" He was starting to upset himself all over again.

"Shaun, I _will_ find her, but I need you to calm down so you can help me to help her." The Doctor spoke in a soothing tone that did the trick. "Now what do you mean it happens sometimes? Has it happened very often, this 'sleep walking'?" It was one thing when her grandfather talked about it, but he figured her husband would have a better idea of things than he did only because he spent more time with her.

"Yes. Its happened at least a dozen times this past year, and it's been happening more and more frequently. In the past month and a half she's had it happen nearly every day." He noted, making Wilf gasp and look at him in shock.

Shaun gave Wilf an apologetic look. "She didn't want me to tell you how bad it's been. She didn't want you upset about how often it's been happening. She always seems just fine afterwards and doesn't see a reason to get anyone else worked up."

The Doctor was frowning. This wasn't good. This was as very far away from good as things could get as far as the safety of Donna Temple-Noble was concerned.

He hadn't realized the presence he'd found in her mind was that persistent. The defense mechanism he'd set up in her mind was only meant to handle keeping her alive, but it wasn't meant to handle a constant barrage of internal attacks. He'd only given it to her in the case of extreme emergencies like what the Master had done. And it had worked like a charm. But this wasn't something his fail-safes were able to prevent. If it was happening to her more and more frequently, then perhaps it was some sort of alien virus that he'd failed to recognize. Or maybe something else he must have missed.

He had one more question.

"How often have you two gone off to Leadworth? It's a bit of a drive from here. Why Leadworth?"

"We've been there a few times over the past year, but more so in the last couple months. Donna insists. She loves this little shop they have there with tea and antiques."

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. There were plenty of shops right here near Cardiff where they lived with a lot more intriguing things to buy then anyone could find in old Leadworth. Why would she be going to Leadworth at all? Something just didn't seem right.

He needed to find her. She'd been out there for over a full day on her own. Who knew what was happening to her. She needed him and he couldn't let her down.

"You two stay here in case she comes back. I'll look for her." He stopped to look back at the two, and even to glance in at Sylvia. "I _will_ find her." He reassured them once again.

He ran out the door before anyone could protest, not that they would have.

He thought about Donna being lost and alone, possibly in great danger out there somewhere.

He had to find her. _Now. _

* * *

><p><strong>Now, I realize you all are waitin<strong>**g to see what is going on with Donna. She will be in the next chapter, which I am working**_. _**Please review!**_  
><em>


	9. Confusion & Questions

**Thank you for the reviews all!**

** Note: I realize this story is slow paced. Some chapters may be quicker than others. So my apologies to those who feel the story isn't progressing quickly enough.  
><strong>

**Please review. :)**

* * *

><p>Donna saw the visions swimming through her mind. Things of which she could not begin to comprehend. Things that meant nothing to her. They were foreign, coming to her from somewhere else. Deep within her own mind she screamed for relief. Whatever was seeping into her mind was anything, but natural. It was inhuman, not to mention inhumane. It was pure torture. She couldn't even scream out loud, her mouth wouldn't work.<p>

_Please stop this! _The woman who had slapped the Oncoming Storm multiple times and lived to tell about it. Not only that, she'd lived to become his best mate. She had saved worlds, rescued those in distress, and yet here she was, reduced to nothing more than a puppet on an invisible string.

She felt her body moving, saw the things in front of her vision, but her body moved of its own accord. It was as though she were merely a passenger along for the ride. She could feel her hands, her feet, her face, frozen in a blank expression. But she couldn't frown, smile, laugh, cry. She couldn't sit or force her legs to stop. On and on she walked. So much so her legs were sore, her feet were starting to blister. The cold of the night air was causing goose bumps to rise across her delicate skin.

_Please, whoever or whatever you are, let me go!_ She'd gone far past yelling inside her head at the thing that was doing this to her. She'd cursed at it, called it every name possible, screamed for all she was worth, told it off like she had never told anyone off before. And yet, nothing answered her. No one was listening.

It was as if she were on autopilot. She tried desperately to stop, but to no avail. She tried to get someone else's attention, but nobody had paid a bit of attention to her walking along. And now it was late, no one was about. She wasn't even sure where she was. She had never walked so far away.

She was nearing what looked like an empty field with trees off in the distance. Why wouldn't it let her go? The blasted thing that had her. Because if there was one thing Donna was positive of, it was that this something that was controlling her, was alive and not her. This wasn't a case of going mental or her mind having some sort of bizarre stroke. This was completely different.

She _felt _it now, the presence. She felt it taking her over earlier the other morning while shopping. That was when the visions first started. She felt something pressing inwards, but didn't understand what it was at the time and had no reason to believe she could stop it, even if she had realized what was going on. She would have tried though, had she known it would take her mind over so completely as to literally control her every move.

She hadn't even meant to go out shopping without talking with Shaun first. She couldn't remember getting dressed or leaving the house. She could only remember that she'd enjoyed some of the shops she was in and recalled some of the items she enjoyed looking over.

This whole thing had to have something to do with her headaches and the sleep walking over the past year, especially the past month or so. She had no reason to find those things connected, but somehow she did. She'd had plenty of time to think about it over the past few hours of walking to nowhere.

Something was wrong with her head, and moreover something else was trying to exploit it. But who, what, where, when, why and how were things she just couldn't work out.

The scary thing was, rather than consider that Shaun might find her missing and come looking for her, the strangest thought occurred to her. That he might betray her. Not cheat on her, but leave her out here to die! Why would he do that? He loved her! She knew he did. But every time she thought of him saving her, a strange red spider shaped creature ran through her head and made her want to punch something. _Hard_.

Finally, one less shoe, and no jacket to protect her arms from the cold, Donna was halfway across a field. Wet grass touched her ankles. Her vision started to fail her. She couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't feel. Donna was falling to the ground now, but she didn't know it.

She was conscious, but couldn't use a single sense to tell that fact. Everything was so dark. She was deaf, blind, she couldn't feel her own body, couldn't tell if she was even breathing. Was this death? If so, she knew she was surely in her own personal hell because even pain was better than feeling _nothing_.

_Back on the TARDIS..._

"Why won't you land?" The Doctor frowned up at the console. His former incarnation would be hitting her with a mallet for misbehaving this poorly, but his current self didn't feel the need for such actions. His ship had been loyal to him through out the ages. He couldn't see treating her abusively, any more than he could imagine hitting an child. It wasn't something he did, ever.

Something was happening that caused her to refuse to land. He'd had the TARDIS track Donna's current location. The ship had located her some fifteen miles away, a town over. So he waited, but she refused to land. "I know I ask a lot of you, dear, but Donna really is very important. You remember Donna, aye? She was always kind to you. We need to land so I can help her. Lets help her?" He cajoled his ship, petting her as he changed a few dials in the hopes of calming her.

It took some work, but he finally managed to convince her. As the TARDIS landed, he gave her a smile and exited. And then he found himself facing nothing more than a plain field and some woods. The nearest house was yards away and even the nearest road was unpaved. No car was in sight. He frowned. Where was she and why would she be all the way out here?

Even if her memories came back to her, he could think of no logical reason why she would be all the way out here. It was worrying him more than he cared to admit, even to himself.

He pulled out his sonic and held it out in front of him, scanning the entire area. It started beeping like mad when he pointed it NW at the field. His frown deepened as he stepped into the tall grass and started walking. He could sense her now. Smell her even. That warm spicy scent that was so Donna. Not that she smelled bad. Everyone had their own scent and the Time Lord's senses were acutely more adept at detecting external input than the average human.

He paused to listen, more intently than perhaps he normally could, desperately searching for the sounds of breathing or a heartbeat, but he knew he couldn't hear it even if he tried.

He headed on, continuing to follow his sonic's direction and then the scent. And there she was. Hidden away. Tucked in the uncut grass on her back, her chest rising in falling, much to his great relief. Her eyes were closed, her hands lay at her sides.

"Oh Donna..." He spoke softly. He knelt down beside her and examined her.

Upon first glance he picked up more troubling evidence that this was not his fail-safes failing her at all. The blood on her one bare foot told him of the blisters she'd endured and the stiff way she lay let him know her muscles were sore. So she had walked all of this way. _But why_? There was nothing out here that could possibly hold a memory of her time with the Time Lord. It had to be something else.

He tugged out of his tweed jacket and lay it over her. It was a cold night. He stared at her face as he did this. When he spoke to the unconscious woman, the words were full of compassion and affection as much as they were a genuine inquiry that he didn't expect a response from. "Whats going on with you, Noble?"

He reached up with both hands on either side of her head to take a look. He didn't like doing this. Over and over to the same person like this wasn't a wise idea. He did it though. He reached in and was stunned by what he found. A complete wall. Not just over the memory block he'd put into her mind, but around her entire mind! It was a dark energy, the same presence he'd found before, except fully active. He tried to press it back, but he wouldn't budge. He couldn't see into her mind because of it, and in all likelihood, she wouldn't be able to see out. "What's happened to you...?"

The Doctor was entirely upset and angry by what was happening to her. He checked her vital signs. All appeared well, but nothing was at all.

This wasn't just her memories merging into her subconscious mind. This was something much more...Dangerous. While he still had no idea what she was doing in the middle of a field, he now knew that her unconsciousness had nothing to do with her memories flooding back, at least. That would have been a better thing than this.

"Whoever did this to you..." His frowned etched its way across his features, setting in deeply. "Knew what they were doing. They knew about your memories being suppressed and how to avoid the self defense I gave you. But who could know that? Who would go through so much trouble to get to you?"

Carrying her would take a bit of work, but he was up for it. He wasn't going to leave her out here to freeze to death, whatever else was going on. He slowly stood and slid his arms under her, with a small grunt, he lifted her up, her body falling against his chest. He struggled quite a lot, but was determined.

To the TARDIS he carried her, swearing that if he did nothing else, he would _not _drop her.

He maneuvered his hand so that his fingers were open a moment, just long enough to snap. The TARDIS doors flung themselves open and he carried her in. He carried her back to a room with a bed and laid her down. It was a little less TARDIS looking back here, though it was hardly looking like a regular bedroom. It had a lamp and a bed and a book case, but the rest was very much just TARDIS, with a few odds and ends that would be confusing. Thankfully, none of it looked like the TARDIS that would be in Donna's memories. Though he was still fearful of what might happen if she started to remember, right now they had bigger troubles.

Whomever or whatever was trying to control her mind, wasn't going to get away with it. Whatever their reasons, they couldn't have her. Not as long as his hearts were still beating. "I won't let them do this to you. Don't you worry, Donna. I may have left you, but I will_ never _abandon you." He knew it wasn't possible for her to hear him or know anything with that solid wall of foreign energy blocking her mind in, but he had to say it.

He was angry. Not only with whomever was doing this to his dear friend, but himself for leaving her alone and vulnerable. He had a feeling the previous visit that it wasn't the end of it. Seeing her hunched down in that scaffold, crying and reliving moments she couldn't quite reach, but knowing she felt the pain of the loss just the same, was heart wrenching. It had been all he could do just to not break down sobbing himself.

He dragged a blanket over her. He slipped her other shoe off and cut her stockings off below the ankle to assure that her feet dried and warmed, then, he reached out to tuck a few loose strands of hair back from her face. He watched her for several long moments before turning and leaving the room.

_I'll find whoever or whatever is doing this to her. I'll stop them. _

_After he left, Donna stirred.  
><em>

Pain. Intense. Donna gasped and sat straight up, gripping her head. She had her fair share of hang overs, but this beat that all to hell and back! At least she was feeling something! She felt ridiculously relieved about that.

But that didn't help the fact that the pain was...Painful!

She rocked back and forth, unable to open her eyes. "Shaun? Bring me the aspirin!" She hollered, annoyed. This hurt bad. "Shaun! Hurry it up!" She called barely three seconds later. The throbbing was so intense she had never felt anything so blindingly painful before. It was so bad, she considered crying, except that would have hurt all the more.

A moment later a glass was placed in her hands and she drank down the cool water eagerly as warm fingers traced gentle lines across her forehead and temples. Amazingly, the touch eased the pain back and caused her to shiver. It felt as if his fingers were entering her skull! "Where are those aspirin? Oi, Shaun..." She was a little less combative with him now that the pain was easing up. Until she opened her eyes.

And then she screamed.

A strange kid was leaning over her, his hands on her! So what if they were only on her head, they were still on her body and she didn't know him! "Get offa me!" She jumped up and glared at him, even as she was aware the pain was subsiding considerably.

He stood back, a calm look on his face. "Its okay, Donna. Really, I promise it is." He spoke just as calmly and gently as she thought someone with his weird look wouldn't.

"How do you know my name? Who are you?" She looked around, shifting from one foot to the other and now eyeing him with all the suspicion one would expect from someone confronted with a serial killer. "Where am I?" Her tone was rising so quickly that the Doctor knew if he didn't give her some answers and now, he would be suffering for it.

"You remember me." He said softly. "Give it a moment. I'm Williams. Williams Pond." He reminded her.

"You did something to me! You must have drugged me or something! That's how come I went walking and couldn't stop and why I'm here in this weird room!" She accused.

Oh, this was getting complicated indeed! He held up the psychic paper, letting her see it. "No. I'm a...medical professional, and your family asked me to bring you to my...Convalescence Center. For your recovery. Heard you've been having a bit of trouble lately." He gave her a reassuring smile.

She peered at the paper. It had the man's name and credentials on it. She remembered. Williams Pond, friend of her grandfather, weird bow tie wearing kid who helped her the other night. She calmed slightly. "So what are you saying? Shaun just signed some papers and off I went? You took me away while I was asleep?"

"Oh Donna, you weren't sleeping." He admonished lightly. "You went off on your own and worried them. You're in trouble and need help." He knew she knew this. "Shaun and Wilf felt it would be for the best if I looked after you while we get this sorted out for you."

She slowly approached him and for a moment, he cringed, fearing a slap. But she merely sank down onto the side of the bed with a sigh. "I don't know what to do!" She stared blankly as she spoke. "My head hurts so much. Too much all the time now." She rubbed it. "And things keep happening. I don't understand! My feet hurt, I'm aching all over. I wake up places, I don't know how I got there. I think...I can't remember. I just can't!" She sounded very upset. As she spoke, the Doctor slowly sat down beside her, watching and listening.

She turned to look at him and for the briefest of moments, it felt like old times. The two of them hanging out in the TARDIS, talking about problems and he was hopeful for a joke. Then he got to be reminded this was Donna Temple-Noble.

"Oi!" She shouted, causing his ears to ring. "You're supposed to be some doctor, why are you sitting on your patient's bed!" He quickly rose.

"Uh, sorry."

Her eyes narrowed in on him. "Listen, kid, I don't know what sort of place you're running here or what you think you can do with or _to _me, but it ain't happening! You put your paws on me, you won't have any left when I get done with ya! You hear me?"

He put his hands out in a surrender gesture. "Understood. I won't hurt you, Donna. I'm here to help. And I don't want to touch you!" He said this in such a tone that she looked at him in agitation. Fearing offending her, he quickly he went on. "Not that touching you is a bad thing. I would touch you."

Another look. "Not without your one hundred percent consent of course." She glared. "Well, yes, I'm a professional, mustn't bother with all of that then." He coughed. Sometimes maybe not speaking was a good thing. "I won't hurt you, Donna." He repeated helplessly.

"I'm not worried you'll hurt me. You just try it you!" Donna made a sort of 'humph' sound that told the Doctor that argument was done with at least. "So if you're so good at figuring this stuff out, fix me then, bow tie boy."

"Right." He clapped his hands together. "First, I'm going to need you to stay right here, while I run a few tests." He left the room and left Donna wondering what the heck was going on! If he needed to run tests wouldn't he need her? She was the one he was running tests about! She rolled her eyes and sat down with a heavy sigh. And why were her feet so sore?

She looked down at them and noticed the blisters. She frowned, recalling the long journey she'd been unable to stop herself from making. It felt so blurry in her mind. Why was that?

She sank back down onto the bed and rubbed her feet, thinking. Thinking all sorts of things. From what was going on with her, to why didn't this room have a television. Didn't these sort of places always have television and a dresser? What about clothes? Shaun or her grandfather both, wouldn't have dropped her off here or allowed her to come without at least a suitcase full of clothes. They knew very well she didn't travel lite. Why would they dare bring her here without anything? She looked under the bed and all around the strange room with the coarse feeling walls. Nothing. She was angry all over again now.

_She stormed out of the room in search of that medical guy..._

Something hard and lumpy hit the back of the Doctor's head. "Ow!" He rubbed it as he turned around. Donna was stood just inside the console room, glaring. At his feet lay the shoe he had removed from her foot a bit ago. "Why did you do that?" He asked, miffed.

He hoped beyond hope that she wouldn't recognize the TARDIS console. After all, he reasoned, it looked significantly different than the one she would remember anyway. He kind of hoped he could pull off making her think it was some weird medical lab stuff instead. Having her pass out would make things inconvenient at best.

"Why? _Why_?" She stomped over to him and snatched her shoe back. "Because there is_ no way _Shaun or my Gramps would leave me here with you without any clothes!" Puzzled, he looked her up and down.

"Oi! Don't be doing that!" She looked ready to slap so he cringed, but again, it never came. "What did you pick me up off the ground and drag me back to your bonkers hospital for anyway? Why can't you stop being weird! I mean where is my suitcase? Where are my clothes? My family wouldn't leave me here with nothing, but the clothes on my back!"

The Doctor smiled graciously and gestured with his hand, toward the stairs. "Of course you've got clothes here, Donna. You even have hats." He'd kept them, not because it was inconvenient to return some of her things, but because he liked to keep a little piece of those he left behind. He kept at least one thing, usually more, from every single one of his companions. Donna perhaps was one he'd kept the most from because she'd brought the most stuff on board his ship.

He had a full suitcase up in the wardrobe along with that hat box. He wouldn't let her take them with her. Especially not the hat box. Oh, that held so many memories! Even if she kept the hats, he was stealing that box for himself. It was his Donna's, after all. He would use the hats, but they were all womens hats and didn't suit him even if some of them were, indeed, very cool.

"Hats?" She let him lead her upstairs and to the most enormous wardrobe she had ever seen in her life.

Her mouth fell open. "Oh. My. God!"

He looked at her worriedly. "You've got your own shop! Why didn't you tell me your bonkers hospital had a shop?" She squealed with delight and dove in.

He grinned and pulled out her suitcase from the back along with a hat case. "Don't get too excited. Nothing here is for sale, Donna. These are your things, right here, and you can use that room over there."

One thing he loved, she didn't question the obvious things. The things that would have caused him problems to try to answer. She didn't ask him why he had a big weird thing, the console, in the middle of his floor, or any other question he would have expected from most people. But then, Donna wasn't most people.

She was already pulling out a frighteningly familiar colorful suit from his wardrobe by the time he had her things out for her. Although he remembered it with a surreal fondness, he was positive Donna wouldn't care for. He was more than a little bit right about that.

"_What_ is this?" She demanded, holding it up and making a horrible face. "Please tell me this is a clown suit for the little kids who come here." She was practically commanding that he tell her just that. He tried not to look offended. "Ahem. Well, it _could_do, but it isn't. It was actually a suit worn by a very brilliant, if a bit halted, man. Nothing wrong with that suit."

Donna stared at him as if he had told her to sprout some wings and fly about the TARDIS. She hadn't even looked that shocked when she had first found herself inside the TARDIS in her wedding dress. She was speechless, which the Doctor wasn't sure whether to be insulted by that fact, or grin in triumph. He settled for a half-pained smile.

_Look who I'm talking to_, thought Donna. _The man can't even dress _himself _properly. I can't expect him to understand basic fashion trends!_

"Well, no need to worry about that suit, as I said, here are your clothes right here." He gestured. She hung the suit back up, but wouldn't let it drop. "Who on Earth would wear a suit like that?"

"Maybe not anyone on Earth." He admitted truthfully. "But there was a man who did wear it, once upon a time."

"Who?"

"Eh..." This being honest stuff was working so far, so why not? "Me."

Donna's mouth fell open. She looked him up and down. "Oi, if you're gonna stand there and try to tell me you wore this suit..."

"But I did. Used to anyway. I'm into bow ties now though."

She charged over with such a rapid speed he hadn't time to consider what her intent might be. A moment later a hot flash swept across his cheek and he was propelled backward by the sheer force of it. He rubbed his burning cheek and stared, open mouthed. Of all the things she found to be insulted about, she took offense to _this_?

She stood, hands on hips, glaring at him. He couldn't believe he was finding himself happy to be slapped. He'd missed her.

Seeing her glaring, feeling the warm sting on his cheek, he couldn't help himself. She was just being so very Donna! He burst into laughter and hugged her.

"Oi, let me go!" She shoved him back violently, but that didn't stop his laughter. She stared at him worriedly. Maybe this one was the one who needed to be carted away to a hospital! How was he to help her with her episodes if he was going to go off all funny on her? And why the hell would anyone wear a multicolored suit like that unless they were on...

"Drugs!" She accused as his laughter slowly died down and he coughed. "Excuse me?" He asked between coughs. He was smiling brightly now as he looked at her, unfazed by her annoyance, which just made her all the more perturbed. Not to mention very unnerved.

"You're on drugs! Must be. Only explanation for you." She declared which only made him grin fully at her.

Yep, he was a loon, she was sure of it now.

She went and grabbed her suitcase and hat case, all the while watching him as though she feared he might suddenly swoop down and try to attack her or some such thing.

"I am not on drugs, Donna." He assured her. "Just enjoying an inside joke." He didn't bother to add that she was actually on the inside of that joke, but there was no way for her to remember or know it. He watched her give him one last odd look before disappearing into a nearby room. He sighed and went back down to the console. The TARDIS was stationary because he couldn't risk Donna remembering by flying all about the place.

He silently thanked River for teaching him about the stabilizers. Actually, he kind of already knew about them but chose to forget it. He didn't understand why others didn't understand. The understanding being that stabilizing something that travels through time and space was just silly! Nothing that has such a wicked job should be kept stable. Because there was absolutely nothing stable about flying through time and space! Just because no one else could see the logic in it, didn't mean he had to ignore it.

There were other things that manual said that the Doctor disagreed with. So many other things. It got on his nerves. It dared try to tell him how to fix the chameleon circuit! As of a TARDIS couldn't decide on it's own what it should look like.

He looked over some of his old clothing, reminiscing briefly before turning and heading back to the console. He still had a few matters to contend with where she was concerned. Before he could safely return her to her family. He needed to find answers.

Right now was the issue of who or what was controlling her mind. Someone had the ability to control it, and to block all others out, and he needed to know who. He needed to know why. He needed to stop them.


	10. Something New

**It's been quite a while since I've updated this story. I do apologize. I never mean to keep people waiting for months on end, it just sort of works out that way! Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

><p>Donna sifted through her luggage with growing confusion. How was it that she'd forgotten these? She hadn't seen any of them since before marrying Shaun. She cleared up her own confusion by assuming she must have failed to unpack on her last bit of travels. The luggage might have been in storage all of this time and Shaun probably decided it was fine enough for her to still use.<p>

Something else was bothering her. Sure there was the crazy man and his strange toys like that big thing in the middle of the lobby that looked more like something a kid threw together for fun than anything that might do with medical needs.

But what could Shaun have possibly been thinking, having her carted off to this place? Shaun knew her better than that. He wasn't a leader, he was a follower. He never would have considered sending her here if someone else hadn't convinced him to.

There was no way her grandfather would have done. He wanted what was best for her, but he also let her lead her own life and wouldn't have done any of this without her permission without some coercion from someone else. She would have blamed her mother, but doubted it. She'd been wanting her to go to a real clinic for study. Not some nutty place that seemed to have more problems than solutions to it.

She pulled on a sapphire blue outfit that offset her bright ginger locks and admired herself in a nearby mirror.

The clothes still fit perfectly. If anything, they were more slimming than ever before. She turned this way and that, relieved to have not lost her figure. She brushed a hand through her hair and saw her skin was abnormally pale.

Leaning in to peer into her own eyes, a sudden sharp pain blasted it's way through her temples. "Oh!" She gasped and grasped at her head with both hands.

The pain was so all encompassing. Donna couldn't focus on a single other thing. She closed her eyes and leaned forward. Her forehead rested against the mirror frame as she did her best to cope with the literally blinding migraine.

"My God, What's...Happening..." She mumbled breathlessly. The normally robust woman was at the mercy of something she couldn't see or fight.

Just as quickly as the pain came, it subsided with a white flash. Taking a deep breath, she lowered her hands from her head, to the face in the mirror. She pulled her head up and stood back, straightening her shoulders.

She could report it to that Williams Pond person, but she wasn't so sure he could be of help any more than anyone else had been so far. Then again, he did have that unique way of easing her headaches. What was that about anyway? Some weird homeopathic thing? He also came over as very confident.

She was about to make her way back down to him when someone spoke. She turned toward another corridor with a curious blink. It sounded like a muffled voice coming from a short distance away. She couldn't make the voice out or even if it was male or female.

Maybe there were other people here, after all. She hadn't spotted anyone else so far. Other people would be a relief. She headed in the direction of the voice. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but it was definitely someone talking.

"Hello?" She called, following the voice up and around the weird corridors.

The voice quieted as if the person heard her, then continued on. They probably couldn't make out what she was saying any more than she could understand them, she reasoned.

She found herself facing another of those sliding doors. She wasn't too sure how to open or close them, but just as she was wondering and about to knock, the door slid open. She stepped inside. It slid shut behind her, closing her into complete darkness.

Donna wasn't worried. Dark didn't scare her. She felt along the wall for a light switch, but could find nothing. "Hello? Anyone here?"

Where had the person gone? The voice just stopped as soon as she stepped inside. "I'm Donna. Donna Temple-Noble. If I'm bothering you, I can leave?" She offered, straining to make out anything in the dark. Nothing.

No one replied. She sighed and gave up on trying to find a light switch. She turned back to the door.

"Come on then, you must be automatic or something 'cause you opened before on your own." She told it. She tugged at it, trying to open it. It wouldn't budge.

She knocked on it. And knocked again. "Hey, anyone out there?" Of course, no answer. "Where is that Williams guy?" She muttered, pulling at the door some more.

This was useless! She wasn't panicked about being stuck in a dark room alone. She just didn't want to be. There was nobody here so it was pointless to stay, and who wanted to be stuck in the dark with nothing to do anyway?

She started banging on the door loudly. "Hey, let me out!"

The Doctor stared at the scanner. He tapped the screen as symbols and various other images danced across it. He'd run multiple scans on Donna as well as the Earth's current atmosphere and couldn't come up with anything tangible.

He had to find answers. He had to fix Donna.

He bit his lip, concentrating hard on a particular sequence of symbols. Something about them was familiar...

There was a strange, soft thump from upstairs. Such sounds were unusual, even with a companion roaming about. The Doctor was on alert.

His feet were moving before he even turned in that direction. "Donna?" He called.

He raced up the stairs and around to the wardrobe.

"Donna?"

There she was, leaning forward with her hands and head pressed against a mirror, eyes closed.

The Doctor slowly approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Donna?" He questioned, his voice full of uncertainty.

"Donna, are you-" He couldn't finish the sentence because as he reached out again to shake her gently, her body fell backwards. He jerked forward to buffer the impact of her fall, catching her upper body and carefully laying her on the ground.

He knelt beside her and scanned her with his sonic. From it, he could see she was in distress and her heart rate was unusually slow, but it didn't tell him why this was happening to her.

His hand delicately rested atop her head. He couldn't let this overtake her, whatever it was.

He placed his hands to her head. He eased his way into her mind.

Donna's consciousness wasn't present. It wasn't asleep and he couldn't find it. That sent the Time Lord's pulses rushing.

It was as though her body were nothing more than a shell. Still breathing, still functioning, but without it's owner. His fail-safes were firmly in place and hadn't been tampered with, so he didn't have to be concerned about her memories escaping. But where was she? Her mind ran purely to control her bodily functions, but all that made Donna, so very Donna, was so very absent.

It was like nothing he'd seen before, and that was really saying something.

There was always a way out of something as there was always a way in. He just had to find it. That path Donna had been taken on to leave her very own mind. He had to find it. Someone must have stolen her from him. _  
><em>

He was able to think his way out of some of the most unprecedented predicaments in all of history. Surely, there was a way to find out what was going on with Donna and solve it. He couldn't stand the thought of her suffering any more than she already had. She'd lost so much...

He was relieved she didn't know just how much she'd lost. He would carry that burden alone for her.

He gave a groan of frustration and sat back, releasing his hold on her head. It was useless to continue searching her mind when it lacked the important element of her consciousness. He would never find her there. "Donna." He addressed her empty form. "You really, really need to stop doing this." His gentle scolding held an obvious affection in it.

His fingers combed back her ginger locks before he hopped to his feet. Trying to dive into her mind wasn't getting him anywhere. It may have soothed her headaches, but it wouldn't get her back. Nor was the endless scanning with the TARDIS. "Time for a new approach."

He slid his arms under Donna and lifted her up once more. He carried her carefully back to her room and set her in the bed. After securing a blanket over her, he straightened up and faced away from her.

"I know you're not an illness. You're not a virus. You're not a leak in her memories. Only something sentient could create a way for a consciousness to leave it's mind and body, and still leave the body alive. But _why_?"

He turned back to her, frowning. "Why would anything need to do that?" His intensive scans had picked up zero signs of life apart from himself, Donna, and the usual germs and such. "There is something I've missed..."

He glared fiercely at Donna, watching her breaths rise and fall while tapping his screwdriver lightly across his temple. She was rarely so quiet. It unnerved him. His friend was not one to sit back and take something like this happening to her. She would have fought it.

She had a lot of fight in her.

"Ah ha!" He jumped excitedly into the air. "That's it!" He slapped himself in the forehead. "Of _course_! How could I have been so stupid! I'm stupid and old!" He turned around and ran from the room at top speed.

"I've got you now." He skidded to a stop in front of the console, laughing and wagging a finger at the time rotor. "Oh, I've got you now!" He smirked.

"Clever. Very clever." He moved with his usual mixture of part grace, part circus clown, around the console, tugging on this, pulling on that, more alive than he'd felt in quite a while.

"Donna Noble-Temple and _not_ Temple, hang on, because I'm coming!"


	11. Hurtful Comfort

**A/N: Lovely reviews, thank you very much! I do appreciate your patience. And your _not_ patience, as well. :) I apologize in advance if I have any glaring typos or any such thing, I haven't had a chance to edit it quite enough for my liking and I don't use beta readers.**

**Reviews make me feel like the Doctor feels when he gets to fly without the boringers. **

* * *

><p>The Doctor was positively joyous when he landed the TARDIS with ease and glided over to the doors. His mood, however, dampened once he reached those doors. The giddiness of discovering what was going on with Donna was tempered with...<p>

_Well..._

Discovering what was going on with Donna.

He pulled the doors in to gaze out. He took a quick glance around. The entire room was white. Six ceiling tall pillars lined the large room on either side. The carpet was equally pale, and so plush that walking in his boots would be an awkward affair. The carpet was specifically made to make bare feel welcome. A single large white couch rested at the far side of the room with tiny lights lit up all around the edges of it, like a runway, only tracing the full outline of the couch itself. The room was bathed in a warm glow of light that held the familiar scent of nanotechnology.

His eyes settled on a lone figure standing in front of the couch. "Ah." He nodded. "Here you are. I don't suppose I need to introduce myself. Considering where we are and what's been happening I can guess that you already know."

He stepped out and watched the person cautiously.

Wide eyes stared back at him.

"Why do you look so surprised to see me?" The quiet laugh that escaped the Doctor was humorless. "You've taken someone who is very precious to me. Did you really not think that I would notice?" He took a step towards the figure. They took a step back from him. "Or is it that you thought I wouldn't care enough to stop you?"

The eyes that looked back at him were mixed with an array of emotions. They spilled over and down pale cheeks in the form of silent tears.

"Please." She pleaded softly.

"Then again," He ignored her tears. "I suppose you've been too busy trying to run from me to stop and consider whether or not I might actually be chasing you. You hoped I wouldn't, and you hoped I would, didn't you?" His eyes sparked with something.

He started approaching her and she moved away from the couch, skittering sideways and off to the right, but keeping her eyes on him. Once she was clear of the couch, she started backing away from him again. It didn't stop his steady approach as he turned toward her with the same determined steps. "I know what you've been doing. I know how you're doing it. I even know why. It's time to stop now." He said coolly.

"I won't!" She shouted with a sudden burst of bravery.

"Every second. Every _single _second, you've increased your efforts to keep her from me. That's why she's been having her 'sleep walking' spells more often, isn't it? You saw she was escaping you, you saw me too, and you were terrified. You tried to change the course of events, and with each change, she fought back. When I got involved, you panicked. You were losing and you weren't going to let that happen, were you? So, you took her." His eyes flickered upwards a moment, as if he were talking to someone else. Then back down to hers. "The more she fought back, the harder you pulled at her. A tug of war that only one of you were ever bound to win and it was never going to be her was it? Not without my help." He kept walking toward her until she backed into one of the pillars in her attempt to evade him.

She gasped against it, but could only stare back at him as he came to stand directly in front of her.

"All of that temporal energy shifting around her, it was inevitable that it would stir up confusion, even in someone without the repressed memories she has or the ability to have universes created around her. But she's very special, and we both know she wasn't going to allow something to invade her mind and take her away without a fight. You know, in her own way, _she _lead me here. To you. I'm here to end this."

"You can't do this! I won't let you!" Her voice rose in pitch at her panic. She shook her head in denial.

He leveled her with a cold, hard look. "You're not going to stop me from getting her back. I _will _save her, and I won't allow anyone, not even _you_, to stop me, do you understand?" His voice was dangerously low. Even the most hardened of the Time Lord's worst enemies knew that look and tone. They knew to run from it if they wished to preserve their very own existence.

The look did nothing to intimidate her, nor did his voice. It seemed the more threatening he became, the more she regained her natural composure. Her eyes narrowed in on his. "Now, hold it right there! All this...I don't know head from tail on it all, but I know what you're gonna do, and I ain't letting you, do you hear me?" She lifted a hand and slapped at his chest, flapping his bow tie slightly askew. "So, back off, _bow tie_!"

"Donna..." He let out a quiet breath.

"_No_!" She shouted in his face. He stood his ground, but let her speak her mind. He expected it, after all. "Don't go telling me it's all a lie, 'cause I saw it! This room here, it told me what's to happen and you're gonna take everything! You say you want to save me, but that's a lie and we both know it!"

"It's not a lie." The Doctor said carefully.

"You can't be here to save me when you're the one who did this to me in the first place! You took away everything I am!"

"You _are_ everything you are. Right now." He pointed out.

"No, but you took it!" She shook her head in frustration and corrected herself. "You _will _do! I saw _everything_! You'll take it all away from me soon! Then you'll walk off and leave me like I'm...I'm _nothing_!" She spit each word out with more venom. "Well, I've got news for you, Doctor, I _know _I'm nothing!" The Doctor's eyes darkened at this, his fists tightening at his sides. "But I ain't letting you take what little I am, away from me!"

He took his eyes from her to glance at a wall. He knew what lay outside that wall. A hall leading out to an open lobby, which then lead to many beautiful areas. One of which he knew included a very large swimming pool and sunbathing area. This was the planet Midnight.

He hadn't forgotten they had Healing Rooms here. Such rooms allowed a person to confront their pasts and visit possible potential futures in a way that should not normally be possible. Temporal shifts were merely supposed to be an illusion here, coasting on the edge of each person's potential. It was never meant to show them any one true and definite path. Just potentials. But coupled with Donna's unusual affinity for drawing parallel worlds around herself and an outside influence, and it shouldn't have surprised him that had she tried just such a room, something like this might have been possible. But there was more to this than Donna's will.

Back in his former incarnation, he hadn't suspected a thing. He'd been too overcome by his own traumas to think of what she may or may not have done other than sunbathing, while he was away for the day.

Now, he'd had plenty of time to think about it. To consider all the possibilities, and he _knew_.

"You saw what happens." He looked back at her. She cast her eyes to the side. He continued. "You see, normally the Healing Rooms are meant to only show you potential futures, positive things, also a few vague negatives you could possibly avoid. Peoples' futures tend to be very fluid, not fixed at all, so potentials are not inevitable. But that's not what happened here, is it." It wasn't really a question. "You saw your future. Your _true_ future and you recognized it for what it is. The trauma of realizing what is to come for you was too much to bear. You wanted to stop it, at all costs. Even if it meant killing yourself. Killing your future self, anyway. And that's exactly what you've been trying to accomplish here." There again was that threat in his voice, yet his gaze veered off toward the couch momentarily.

"No, that's not it at all. I don't want to die, you idiot!"

"Don't you?" He challenged with the lift of an eyebrow. She felt unnerved. This version of the Doctor, she didn't know apart from images in her mind the room had given her, but his calmer demeanor and soft spoken voice compared to the Doctor she knew so well who often shouted back, caught her off guard. "What you're doing is killing yourself in the future. She's thrown up barriers to try to save herself, but the more you keep this up, the faster she's slipping away. I didn't see it at first. All the vital signs being so strong, but I know what's happening now. She's dying because of what you're doing to her."

That made Donna pause. But the tears continued as her eyes flew back to his. "Doesn't matter." She amended firmly. "I c-can't let it happen! Not like that!" She told him painfully. Donna was not like this. Not _his _Donna, he thought. Then he realized, perhaps she was like this, _now_, after all.

He never had realized quite how insecure she was back when she traveled with him. It wasn't until later, looking back, that he considered just how poorly she thought of herself. Her boisterous outer shell hid the dark secrets of her heart from the world. She kept the knowledge of how little she thought of herself well hidden much of the time. She fought back, _always_. He'd taken for granted that she thought as much of herself as he did. Although occasionally she put herself down, he hadn't given it much thought back in the day. He gave it a great deal of thought these days, however.

He'd given her the universe. He'd opened up all of time and space for her. She'd found her own potential there. Her own strengths. She found confidence and joy in herself and those around her in a whole new light. She had always thought very little of herself, but he'd seen her gain a softness as her self esteem grew over the time they traveled together. She had begun to see that she might be worth something to someone. At least, to him. He hadn't dared allow himself to realize just how integral a part of her very being he had become. Before him, she hadn't known. But now she knew. She knew her own potential and her own strengths and she realized very clearly what was to happen when he stripped her of those things.

The Donna he'd first met was strong, independent, thought nothing of herself, but fought on anyway. The Donna he traveled with was just as strong, but started to believe it. Started to see beyond her own limited way of viewing herself and although she still hadn't thought very much of herself, she had gained more confidence and a bit more self worth and a lot of other qualities that allowed her to let down some of her defenses.

What he'd done to her left her back where she started. Her self defenses all back in place. Her beautiful adventures and her best friend, stripped away from her. Any gained confidences gone. Any ghost of an idea that she might actually be worth anything at all, torn from her grasp. And the Donna before him was broken for the knowledge of it. His hearts clenched with this new epiphany. One more cold sliver of guilt to dig into him and remind him of why he loathed himself so very much, was currently staring at him with grief-stricken eyes.

This was all his fault. Again.

He took the time to swallow down his own emotions. He had to do this. "You really don't have a choice. I'm not letting you take her from me."

"But you already did!" Her hands fell to her sides. She may have believed she wasn't worth much, but it was quite another thing when she thought that _he_ believed that of her. "You wiped my brains out and threw me aside like I was _nothing_!"

His eyes flashed with something dark, something she couldn't define, but it frightened her. She flinched at it, but didn't back off.

"Everything I am, you...You just erased it! You didn't even see fit to leave me with anything, but money! I don't want money! Do you even _think_ that winning a lottery is enough? That isn't the sort of riches I want! You can't take back the riches you've already given me, not _these_!" She pointed to her head and then her heart. Her entire body was wracked with the anguish of her situation. "I won't let you have them. I _won't_!" She shoved him roughly away, and stormed past him.

He stumbled slightly, catching his footing at the last minute. Damn that plush carpet! It might have been great on bare feet, but it was absolute rubbish for boots!

He turned to watch her hurrying towards the door, making no attempts to stop her, but calling out quietly. "When you walk out that door, it erases every memory the Healing Room gave you. It's a fail safe." He lied with ease.

She huffed over to the door, but stopped short. The room was meant to show past failures to help a person overcome them, and past triumphs afterwards to ease their emotions. Then it was meant to show them positive potential futures, with a few gentle nudges about warnings of things that could happen if they were to take a certain path, such as not giving up smoking or staying in an abusive relationship. The room used nanotechnology to skim over temporal fields and read the possibilities. Possibilities, only. It couldn't read fixed points. Donna wasn't a fixed point, but certain things about her time line could not be tampered with.

The technology of the room fed images directly into the occupant's mind once they sat on the couch. It bathed them in a bright, warm light as it did so, and allowed them, with a mere thought, to move from one image to another, but they couldn't manipulate their actual futures through the images. At least, they _shouldn't_ have been able to. Once they left the room, it did not erase the images given. They remained in tact, but he told her what he knew would stop her from leaving because he couldn't let her go without making sure, firstly, that she was as okay as he could help her to be, and secondly, that she did not return to this room or keep these memories. They were too dangerous to her.

The room was supposed to help give hope, not show a person their exact true future. She should not have known exactly what was to become of her. It didn't make sense. It should not have happened, and the Doctor knew he had someone else entirely to_ thank_ for that.

"You were never nothing, Donna." He spoke up finally, ever so quietly. Her back was to him. She was still facing the door, her shoulders slumped. "Donna Noble. My best mate. The woman who saved the universes. _All _of them." He swallowed back a thickness in his throat. "My hero." He whispered, though she heard. He raised his voice to normal volume again. "You were always everything. I know you never thought it, not then and not now. But it's all true."

He saw her shake her head again. He slowly started walking toward her. "Donna...You've got to let go of this. You've been using the Healing Room to try to change your future, and that's not what it's here for." Though he knew the Healing Room itself was incapable of such a function without some serious outside influence, he didn't say so. She'd been hurt enough and didn't need to know. Donna herself could never have, and would never have, done something so powerful on her own. The two elements combined could not have managed it, either. The room and Donna. They needed something more. It required highly sophisticated technology, access to an almost undetectable transmitter, a consciousness transporter, and a motive.

So, she'd had _help_. Perhaps that alone disturbed him more than anything else. Someone had given her access to information and power that would allow her to slowly and systematically destroy herself. He was positive now that it was a person, not some anomaly. A living, breathing, sentient being had done this to his Donna.

Oh, and they were going to pay for doing this.

"I'm not letting you do it! I can't! You're not going to leave me like that! I'll do anything! Don't you understand?" The briskness with which she whirled around to face him, forced his feet to a dead standstill.

"As will I." He informed her simply. "To stop you."

The look in her eyes was one of pure hatred. For him? For the situation? For herself? Maybe all of the above? He couldn't be sure, but he was surprised she had yet to slap him again. He wanted her to. A slap would make them both feel better, but she made no such move. "Don't you think you've done enough damage, Doctor? Look at you, all spiffy in your new clothes and body, off on new adventures with new people and a new life no doubt, leaving me in the dust! I'm not even dead yet, and you left me!"

"And you know why." He spoke as calmly as his voice would allow. He didn't bother to point out that he knew she had to of seen him going to her future self and trying to help her. That he hadn't completely abandoned her or he would have never come back for her, to help her.

"Oh yes, I know _why_!" She hurled the words at him. The room had shown her. She may not have understood the details, she certainly didn't know what a metacrisis was or have the mind of a Time Lord within her as yet, but she knew enough to understand what was to become of her, and why. "That hand, a double you, part human, part Time Lord thing is gonna happen. If I refuse to do it at all, the whole world dies. What choice have I got?! I'm not gonna let the whole world die, am I?" The tears fell consistently, but still silently through her anger. "But what you did, Doctor...How could you?"

"To save you." He sounded confident enough. He felt confident enough. He knew he had saved her, as he always would.

She laughed bitterly. "Oh yes, there we are then. You saving me so you can feel better, but where does that leave me, Doctor? _Empty_!" He flinched. "You leave me with what? A lottery ticket. Keep your bleeding lottery money, I don't want it!" She shook with anger. "I won't have you taking away what I am. I _won't_!"

"Donna...I know. I do." The Doctor spoke earnestly. "I know it hurts."

"You don't know! And you won't do it." She was practically growling at him. She approached him and slammed her fist into his chest. She hit harder than most. He grunted and staggered, falling back onto the carpet. At least there was that, it was soft. She'd never done that before though! Of all the times she'd ever hit him, punching him hadn't been one of them. Not like that. He clutched at his chest and watched helplessly as she turned away and slammed her fist into the wall beside the door with a sob.

"Donna..." He gasped out, trying to catch a breath between the searing pain in his ribcage. That would definitely leave some serious bruising.

"There has to be another way!" She was yelling again, turning to face him, her back against the wall. She no longer cried silently, but with loud sobs choking out between her words. "You have to fix it! You can do it, I know you can! You can take it out of my head when it happens! Put it some place else! Or make it so I can only remember everything, _but_ it!"

"Doesn't...Work like...That." He heaved. The severity of the pain was finally cooling down and he lowered his hand from his chest. He straightened his legs out in front of him and rubbed his face tiredly. This was going about as smoothly as he imagined it would. Which was as smooth as the rockiest hillside in the universe.

"_Why not_?!" She stared at him, the intense question there in her eyes, glaring at him.

He looked back pityingly which only caused her rage to sharpen. "It's already been done. I can't. Even if I could go back and change how I handled it, I couldn't have done anything differently to save you. You would have _burned_, Donna, if I didn't tuck those memories safely away. There is no way to extract it from within your mind without killing you. It's too dangerous. The human brain is _too _fragile." He gestured lightly with his hands as he spoke, looking on sadly at her.

"Do you really think I haven't thought about all of this? When it happened, before even you realized what was happening to you, I knew. And I thought. _Hard_. After I realized what had happened, I tried desperately to work it out and save you. This was the only way." He thought back, his own eyes watering at the memories. "I thought of every corner of the universe, of any cure, every device, any way to save you from it. Any way to heal your mind. A way to extract, purge, a way to take it from you and into myself, a way to block it and nothing else, a way to go back and make it so it never happened without still destroying the world. There was and is _nothing _else I could do. I would have done it, if there had been a way. Keeping the memories of your time with me would have awakened the Time Lord within your mind no matter what else I did because that's when you gained the Time Lord consciousness. No fail safe I ever could use would be strong enough to keep it at bay if you kept knowledge of that time with me as well. It's too close to you, too deeply ingrained into your own genes now, or will be, for it to be changed without your death being the end result. I tried to keep you, Donna. I would have done _anything _possible."

With the Doctor's own pain raw before her eyes, it was all too much for Donna. As he spoke, she broke down. She slid slowly down the wall to the floor, her legs crumpling under her, and buried her face in her hands. She tried to quiet her own sobs as her body shook with each passing moment. All that she would lose, and leaving him on his own too, that daft old Martian Man! He was hurting, and she was hurting, and as far as Donna was concerned, the whole thing was a great big horrible, heartbreaking mess.

The Doctor's eyes widened. His hearts stilled. He scrambled to his feet and hurried over to her. He sank down onto his knees before her and after a moment's hesitation, wrapped his arms around his dear friend. "I'm sorry..." He whispered, clutching her to him as he felt her violent cries trembling through her. "I never wanted this..." How had he ever let it come to this?

Donna was ashamed of herself. For breaking down like this, and even more so for hurting him. Yet, she couldn't help feeling horrified at what was to come. She really planned on spending the rest of her life with the Doctor. No other life mattered, but one with him. Traveling the stars, saving people, meeting new species, witnessing history and future events, and seeing her brilliant best friend at his very best and worst. As much as she considered things like a husband and family of her own and job, and settling down, all of that paled to near invisibility compared to the life the Doctor offered her. She willingly threw any idea of a so-called normal life out the window when she finally realized what traveling with him meant. Who would ever want to go back to being a temp when they could visit Agatha Christie or a mysterious futuristic Library? And not even a woman who had grown up to being taught that finding a husband and starting a family was the most important thing she could ever do or be, could truly believe that after all she'd seen.

She knew now that she could be and do so much more than a stereotype. She may not have been much of anything in her mind, but she could _help._ Help in ways she never dreamed before she met the Doctor. And now he expected her to give all of that up. To go back to being Donna the temp. Or even Donna the rich nobody. She had seen it. Her married. It looked like that Shaun fellow loved her enough, and he was a nice enough fellow from the visions she'd gotten, but was there true love there? Even so, a husband was nothing in comparison to the wealth that was the Doctor and his travels. She didn't want it. She wanted nothing to do with that life she would have loved back before she met the Doctor. A life of a wealthy married woman sounded wonderful. Or did back before the Doctor. Now, it felt a lot more like a prison sentence than a dream.

He'd let her touch the stars and was going to take them back from her. She could even imagine settling down and marrying and leaving the Doctor if he'd wanted her to go, although it would have broken her heart. She would have been able to take the riches he'd given her with her. She would have been able to bring them into her everyday life to make the most of even a normal little human life on Earth. But he was taking all that from her too. Her way of thinking, her way of feeling, about herself, about the world, about everything in existence, had been so _small _before the Doctor. She felt as if her eyes had finally cleared and she was able to see everything in so many beautiful, bold, tragic, wonderful new lights that it warmed her heart until it was practically bursting.

Saving the whole of everything was an amazing idea. But she would never be able to know she'd done it after the fact. She would go back to how she was, limited, dull, unable to _see_ anything anymore, and that was the last thing in the world she wanted. Death felt like a kind of mercy compared to going back to that.

Her arms circled around this strange, and very different version of the Doctor she knew and trusted. She knew this version of him only from the visions the Healing Room had offered her, yet she knew it was him. She could tell he was as ridiculous as ever. As mad as ever. As brilliant as ever. She soaked his shoulder in her tears, unable to stop herself for it even though it only made her feel more ashamed for heaping more pain upon a man who had enough to go around for everyone.

"It's not your fault." She finally said, steadying her muffled voice enough to reply against his tweed. "Why can't you let me go? I'd rather burn..." She pleaded meekly. Exhaustion was winning out over the normally in-control woman.

"Never! I could never! How can you even ask me that?" He leaned his cheek down against hers, feeling the wetness of her tears.

"I don't want to go back to how I was. I was nothing! A flipping temp with nothing! I'm...I'm not anything, Doctor. I've only ever been anything with you!" Her body started shaking again as the unwanted sobs returned. He tightened his arms around her, slowly rocking back and forth.

The familiar guilt from deep within, brimmed over and gripped him in new and horrifying ways. This was all his fault. Donna's whole life since he met her was all his doing. Worse still, it was his fault, what was happening to her now. That she had to know these things and be hurting over them. Had he taken better care of her when she was with him, nothing like this would have happened. She wouldn't have been confronted with her future. Donna didn't like peeking at spoilers either. She would never have entered the room knowing it would be like this.

He'd brought her to this place, being the fool that he was. He hadn't even considered the enticingly vague 'Healing Room' brochures that offered a healthy bodily cleansing that would leave a person feeling healthier, happier, and more relaxed. He knew his Donna. She couldn't have known it could potentially lead to an extreme confrontation with every painful emotional experience she had ever had, or ever would have. She most assuredly had glanced at the brochures and likened the idea to spending a day getting a facial and mani-pedi. She had no way of knowing the truth. That someone else out there was hell bent on manipulating her and causing her to see things she should not.

He lead his fiery friend here and hadn't protected her. She'd been in his care, and this was how he repaid her for that complete trust.

"Donna..." He blinked back his own tears and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head before shifting so that she was against his chest, his chin resting atop that mess of ginger locks of hers. He continued gently, an arm secured around her, rocking her as her crying quieted down. "That's the least true thing I've ever heard you say." He sighed, and reached down for her hand, taking it in his to glide his thumb over swollen knuckles from her having punched the wall. "I've seen you shine, Donna Noble. Shine brighter than any and every star in the sky. You outshine everything. You did before you knew me. You do when you're with me. And you will when you're not. I'm not the one who makes you shine, Donna. You do that all on your own."

"But you said I'm not special. I'm not important! Yeah, you think I'm something now, maybe, but you didn't when you met me!"

He blinked. "That was...Donna, I'd just lost someone I cared very deeply for. I was rather grumpy at the time, and quite rude back then, as you well know. Also, I didn't mean it like that. I meant you were a human being with no reason for aliens to be after you. I just said it in a very rude and unkind way, is all. And I'm sorry that I did." He truly was. He recalled the rooftop moment when he'd told her she wasn't special, or clever, or important. He winced at the memory. She was all of those things and so very much more. "I was angry about losing Rose, I was scared about what was happening to you, and determined to make sure you remained safe. It baffled me why anyone would want to hurt you. Had you been an alien, or had some sort of off world knowledge, technology or anything, it would have made sense to me at the time. But it didn't, and I couldn't stand the thought of losing someone else so soon."

"But you barely knew me." She was no longer crying, and stilled his rocking with her arms. They now simply clung to one another, she too exhausted to move away, and he too full of pain to want to let go of her.

"That didn't matter. You know me. I'm very fond of humans all together. When an innocent human being appears in my TARDIS and is clearly in serious danger of an alien threat, I tend to take it personally. I'm protective, me. In particular, having just lost someone, also a human, the thought of another human being lost to yet another invasion or any kind of alien influence, enraged me." He didn't need to remind her of how much he'd lost himself with the Rachnoss. How he'd committed genocide against the creature and her babies, and very nearly killed himself and Donna in the process. The only thing that had stopped him was Donna. He could save her, and he did. But the truth was, she'd saved him more. "I didn't know you yet, Donna, and I _did _underestimate you." He admitted. "But you definitely showed me!" He reminded her proudly.

"Then I could have been anyone." Not that Donna sounded surprised about that fact. Or hurt even. She always had known it was pure luck she'd been the one put in such a situation. "Any human. I know you mean well, Doctor, but I'm not any different than anyone else." She pulled away from him finally. She straightened up and looked at him.

He let go of her and gave her a rueful smile. "No, you couldn't. You're Donna Noble. There's only ever been one of you. Trust me, I've looked."

"Still. It doesn't mean I'm special." She pointed out, giving him an equally regretful smile, almost as if she were apologizing for admitting she believed herself not special. It was clear to the Doctor she wasn't seeking reassurances that she was actually special. She truly didn't believe she was and thought herself stating a fact, nothing more or less.

He reached out and brushed ginger hair back from her face. "Sure, it does. It had to be you, Donna, don't you see? Not everyone would have known to stop me. I know I was in a dark place back then, dark enough to be dangerous and most people find that threatening. Others would have been terrified on the spot and frozen and I would have ended up killing them right then and there along with myself by not stopping or noticing them. Others still, would have run away, leaving me to die. Wouldn't be their fault, it's human nature to run when you're afraid. Others would have lost consciousness or broken down and not gotten back up. But you, Donna Noble, you gave a shout. You told me to stop. You were brave. You saved my life. And you kept saving it. You notice the little things that add to the big picture. I often keep my eye on the big picture, and miss those little details that you find. The little things are important. _You're _important. Not that you're a little thing. You're very big."

Donna smacked his arm hard at this. "Are you calling me fat?!" She asked, threateningly. Up to that point, she'd been smiling softly with watery eyes, thinking fondly of their time together along with him. But there was only so much emotional turmoil she could handle in one go.

The Doctor yelped, rubbed his arm and quickly shook his head. "No! No, no, of course not! That's not how I meant it!"

"Well. However you meant it, you'd better watch your tongue." She looked him up and down. "Blimey, you look all of twelve! What happens when you do this body swap thing again? Next time are you aiming for nursery school? How are you gonna run around the universe dressed in a bow tie and a nappy?"

"Oi, I'm not..." He made an irritated, but very affectionate face at her. He looked down at himself, then back at her. This was her way, he knew. How she dealt with it. How she leveled the playing field. He'd been hitting upon some very delicate emotions and she wanted to lighten the mood. He wasn't about to get in her way on that. He took the time to straighten out his bow tie. "One. You are the best person, Donna. Two. I'm not getting younger, I've just regenerated. I'm still older, _much _older, in fact. Three. Bow. Ties. Are. Cool."

She covered her mouth and laughed as if he'd said the most absurd thing. "You really believe that?!" She watched him fuss with his bow tie. "It's even worse than converse with a suit!" She teased, laughing harder.

This gave him pause. He glanced up at her, confused. "What's wrong with wearing converse with a suit?" He asked cluelessly, earning himself an affectionate hair ruffling from Donna. "Oh, never mind about that. What are we gonna do about this mess?" She asked him, wishing more than anything she could change her future. He wouldn't let her, this she knew.

He didn't tell her the other part of this. The part where he knew he needed to confront whomever did this to her, and force them to release Donna's mind back into her body. She didn't know or understand any of that and he would like very much so for her not to know what was going on. "You'll step out that door when you're ready, and forget. Future you will be sent back and saved and everyone lives."

"What if I don't want that life though?" Her smile was gone again, she was looking at him pleadingly. He kept eye contact. He sighed softly. "Then, Donna Noble, do what you do best. Fight. Make changes. You're not in that future because you don't want to be, you know. You chose your husband, yourself. You chose your house, your lifestyle, the things and people you surround yourself with, the things you do. I'm not taking your choices from you, Donna. I'm giving them back."

Her eyes watered over and she wiped at them. "But, Doctor...What if you're one of the choices I want in my life? You're going to go away and I'll never see you again."

"Of course you'll see me. You're getting ready to see me later today, aren't you? A younger me, but still me. And you've got lots yet to come with me. You'll also see me again in your future when I come back to help, as I am doing. And you never know what might happen. The events you've been shown aren't all of it, not every little piece you know. And it isn't all set in stone. Potential is just that. Your life isn't a fixed point. It's whatever you want it to be."

"I want it to be in the TARDIS with you."

His hearts could hardly stand much more. He leaned forward, his hand wrapping gently around the back of her neck to pull her forehead to his. "Oh, Donna." He closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of her forehead against his. "I'm sorry...Really, I truly am."

She gazed at him then closed her eyes and tried to collect herself. He was being so soothing and caring that it made it difficult to stay angry with him. It really wasn't his fault, how things were going to go. He couldn't help it even if she did try to blame him for it out of fear and desperation.

All she knew was that today was supposed to be a relaxing day. She'd come into the Healing Room expecting to be refreshed and go finish sun bathing. But then images bombarded her senses. Her entire life flashed before her eyes from start to finish. And she wasn't pleased with how it turned out. It hadn't given every image, but far too many.

Somehow within those very images, a voice urged her to stamp them out. To try to make them disappear. As if in her very own mind she could magically erase her own future. But the harder she tried, the more new future memories cropped up and started confusing her. She didn't really understand any of this. It must have been one of those weird futuristic other planet things that was beyond her.

"It's not your fault." She felt lips pressed to her forehead, and a tear trickled down her cheek. She was going to miss him. More than anything she had ever lost in her life. More than even the things she'd gained within herself in all this time with him, it was him in the end, that she'd truly been desperately trying to bring back to her. And here he was. For the briefest of moments. Maybe he was right, she thought. Maybe even without a memory of him, she would make choices and find a way to get him back into her life.

He had come back for her, after all. Even with her not remembering him, she had seen the flashes the more she fought. Flashes of the TARDIS and the new Doctor's face, so full of pain, confusion, concern, love, so unfamiliar, yet she knew all along it could never have been anyone else. He'd come for her. She didn't know it, that future her. She didn't know how much he meant to her. She would maybe never know, and that hurt Donna more than all the memories she could ever lose.

"I'm going to miss you, Spaceman." She whispered tearfully, feeling his lips pull away and his arms tugging her back to him. She slid hers around him and hugged him fiercely.

"Not as much as I miss you." He murmured, feeling it was very true. She would miss him, even if she didn't remember. The Doctor knew that Donna, the one from his timeline, missed him in her heart, felt and sensed something was missing from her life, and hurt from it even if she couldn't name it. He missed her too. His best friend had been the one person he felt he could share everything with. He trusted her and could talk to her about anything. His hearts were lonely without her. Others would come, and go, but none of them would ever be her.

He waited until he felt her arms loosen and slowly pulled back. "We should get going, Donna. The longer you stay in here, the more danger you are in." He climbed to his feet and offered her his hand. She took it after a reluctant minute, and he pulled her up, giving her hand a squeeze. "I'll walk you out?" He offered, knowing this was going to be extremely hard for the both of them.

"You better." Her lips quirked into a smile. She may have been hating what was going to happen, but she wasn't going to break down more than she already had. She'd lost enough of her dignity as far as she was concerned, and didn't want to do so any more. Besides, now she had hope. A hope that just maybe she could bring the Doctor back to her in the future. Not just to help her, but in some other way. She would fight for it.

He returned her smile and kept a firm hold of her hand as she pressed the button beside the door. It slid open. They looked at each other. She, taking in everything she could about this Doctor and knowing she would lose it all anyway. He, looking back and hurting with the knowledge she would not remember this tender moment between them. Though, really, it was for her more than him, he reminded himself. Because she would not remember, but she would sense it. She would feel it and not understand what she was feeling and he very much needed to leave her feeling some peace. She stepped out, and he followed directly behind her.

Donna turned to face him, confusion in her eyes. "I still remember-"

He released her hand and cupped her face. She looked confused, but didn't resist. "Doctor? What are you-?"

He eased into her mind before she could question him. His mind clouded away her consciousness just enough to allow him access with a gentle nudge to hide away the memories. This talk hadn't been all for nothing, though. It had made him feel a bit better and he knew, somewhere deep inside Donna, these memories, too, would exist and help her to fight on. He supposed he should have just rid her of the memories and connection immediately upon entering the Healing Room, but seeing her, an earlier version who could remember him quite clearly, it had been far too difficult to just ignore her. He hadn't been able to resist talking to her and trying to help ease her into, or rather, out of the situation she was in with the least amount of damage possible. This way she could come away from the Healing Room with some actual healing, perhaps.

She looked dazed. He'd erased these memories of her time in the Healing Room and replaced them with false ones of sunbathing and a slight memory of having gone off to explore a nice art exhibit so that she would think that was where she'd been before he gave her a subtle post hypnotic suggestion to return to her sunbathing and have a relaxing, warm day. She would have no conscious awareness of him.

He took hold of her swollen, slowly bruising hand and used his sonic screwdriver to gently heal the damaged skin, lest his younger self notice it and try to investigate the cause behind it. He knew as angry as he was at himself, that his younger self did truly care about Donna and would have noticed her injured hand and not let that slip by without looking into how his friend had been hurt. Especially if she retained no knowledge of how she'd injured it. That would have only made his younger self more suspicious and worried for Donna and he couldn't have that.

The Doctor lifted the dazed woman's healed hand to his lips and gently brushed them across the knuckles. "There you go." He said softly. "Go sunbathing, Donna. Enjoy the rest of your day. I'm going to need you later, more than I ever have before." He slowly let go of her hand and turned back to enter the Healing Room. A very dazed, and slightly confused Donna would come fully back to awareness in about two minutes, and happily make her way back to the pool area without the slightest suspicion as to what had really just happened to her. She would order herself another drink and have a nice nap by poolside. Later she would comfort her best friend in the whole universe.

He closed the door behind himself and leaned back, waiting for the sharp ache in his hearts to subside enough for him to continue on to what needed to happen next. The moment the TARDIS appeared in the Healing Room, that had broken Donna's connection with her future memories as she'd gotten up off the couch, startled by the sudden appearance of the TARDIS.

That was necessary in order to help stop the manipulations that were hurting her. He knew, too, that this earlier version of her was safe now, but there were so many other points along her time line that could be disrupted. He'd chosen this one to check first because it was one of the rare times while traveling with her, that they'd been separated for the length of time it would be necessary for her to be able to be used like that and to disrupt her own future. It had been easy to steer the TARDIS to find her where she should have been on Midnight.

But he still had to get her consciousness back into her body on her, and his current timeline, before she became too weak to ever return to it. He wasn't looking forward to what he needed to do next.

"Alright, so let's see who you are and why you're doing this." The Doctor muttered irritably while taking his sonic out to scan the couch and trace back the signature to it's source. Donna still needed him and he wasn't about to abandon her.

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter progresses the story more than it actually appears to do. It sets the stage for some things that have already been happening with Donna, and other things that will happen. <strong>


End file.
